Thousands tune in as Columbus hosts Nepali volleyball tournament
A team of Uber drivers from Queens, New York. A squad of teenage girls from Minnesota. A crew led by a gas station owner from Texas who once captained the Nepali national volleyball team.
These were among the groups competing at the Intra Cup, a tournament of Nepali and Bhutanese-Nepali amateur club teams from across the U.S., held inside a sports complex at Columbus’ Big Run Park this past weekend.
Hosted by local nonprofit Intra-National Welfare and Support Foundation of America, 21 men’s teams vied for an $8,500 title prize. Eight women’s clubs competed for a $3,500 top prize.
Hundreds of spectators attended the event on Saturday and Sunday, and nearly 3,000 people watched a live stream broadcast by a professional camera crew on Facebook.
“This is a really good opportunity for Nepali speakers. I’m so happy to come and take part,” said Biju Bhujel, 31, coach of the Bhutanese Youth Sports Club, a girls team that carpooled from St. Paul, Minnesota.
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Greater Columbus is home to about 30,000 Bhutanese Nepali refugees, according to the Bhutanese Community of Central Ohio. Hundreds of thousands of Nepalis, who share the same language, live across the U.S.
Along with soccer and cricket, volleyball is one of the most popular sports in Nepal, especially in mountainous regions where flat ground for other sports is scarce.
Saturday’s tournament began with the “Star Spangled Banner” and “Sayaun Thunga Phulka,” the Nepali national anthem, followed by traditional dance performances performed by local youth groups.
“The purpose of this tournament is to encourage the new generation to be active and play sports,” Dilli Adhikari, president of the Intra-National Foundation who lives on the Southeast Side of Columbus, said in Nepali. “If people don’t have opportunities for engagement in games, sport, dance, or music, then they stay home and are on their devices all day, and get depressed. With sports, we can stay positive, be part of a team, and contribute to society.”
More:Bhutan welcomes American tourists. Bhutanese-Nepali-Americans? Not so much
Although teams had to pay a fee to participate, costs were subsidized by the foundation, which also hosted Mero Voice Cup and Mero Dance Cup, song and dance competitions that were widely streamed on YouTube.
Player Hari Rana, 47, said he and his friends — all Uber drivers — practiced during their free time in New York City.
But Geeta Thapa, 35, said her team, consisting of players from North Carolina, Michigan, Ohio, and Virginia, had not yet had the chance to practice together.
After tough battles in the quarter and semifinals, the teenagers of the Bhutanese Youth Sports Club from Minnesota claimed the women’s trophy, defeating the Columbus-based adult team Friendship Ohio.
In the men’s final, Far West Nepal, a team from Texas led by ex-Nepal national captain Kailash Bhatta, 38, defeated Young Blood, a team from Pennsylvania, three games to one.
Peter Gill covers immigration and new American communities for The Dispatch in partnership with Report for America. You can support work like his with a tax-deductible donation to Report for America here:bit.ly/3fNsGaZ.
pgill@dispatch.com
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus hosts Intra Cup Nepali volleyball tournament
