Nepal is a mountainous country but it is far behind in winter sports.

Despite being home to 14 peaks, including Mount Everest, that are above 8,000 metres, Nepal, a country with a large area in the mountain region, has been struggling to develop sports played in ice and snow. The country has seen minimal participation in international tournaments in winter sports, which include games like skiing, ice skating and ice hockey, among others.

Meanwhile, one such sport—ice skating—is trying to emerge in Nepal with huge possibilities and promises. And for the first time in the history of Nepal’s ice-skating, a team is participating in an event outside the country.

Six Nepali athletes are participating in the India Short Track Speed Skating Open 2025 in Dehradun from December 27 to 29, informed Achyut Khanal, president of the Nepal Skating and Skateboarding Association (NSSA). “It will be the first time that a Nepali ice-skating team will play in a foreign tournament,” Khanal told the Post.

Of the six athletes, two are female—12-year-old Paree Guragai and 10-year-old Alka Ghimire—and four are male—11-year-old Xavier Jung Thapa, eight-year-old Shayon Aryal, 10-year-old Arun Khatwe and 11-year-old Ramesh Muktan.

Muktan and Khatwe will be participating in the senior 1,000 metre, an event for those born before July 1, 2006. Similarly, Guragai and Ghimire will participate in the 500 metre event of Junior D (born between July 1, 2012, and June 30, 2014) and Junior E (born between July 1, 2014, and June 30, 2016) categories, respectively.

Thapa and Aryal, on the other hand, will be competing in the 250 metre event of Junior D and Junior F (born between July 1, 2016, and June 30, 2018), respectively.

The Nepal Olympic Committee bid farewell to the athletes on Wednesday.

“Ice skating is a sport that is favourable for a country like Nepal,” NOC President Jeevan Ram Shrestha said in the farewell function. “It is a historic participation for Nepal, and we are confident that the players will return with medals.”

Ice skating is governed by the International Skating Union (ISU). However, due to Nepal’s law, which does not allow separate national sports associations for a sport of a similar nature, the NSSA is taking steps to develop ice-skating in Nepal and get recognition from the ISU.

“Ice skating is a new sport for Nepalis despite the country being situated in the lap of the Himalayas,” Khanal told the Post. “The six athletes who are representing Nepal in the Indian tournament practised the sport in the Bhadrakali-based Fun Land.”

Fun Land, a privately-run ice skating arena, began operation around three years ago. A synthetic ice skating arena was also in operation in Civil Mall since October 2017, but it is no longer functional.

Meanwhile, Fun Land is also closed for now, since October 28, due to ‘maintenance reasons’, but insiders say that it is due to a legal dispute with the Food Management and Trading Company, the organisation that leased their land to Fun Land.

“As we do not have an operational ice skating arena currently in the country, we have been allowed to utilise the arena in Dehradun for practice for a couple of days before the tournament,” said Khanal.

The Indian tournament is being hosted by the Himdari Ice Rink, which is located within the Maharana Pratap Sports Complex. The same venue saw the Asian Open Short Track Speed Skating Trophy in August, but Nepal did not participate then.

It was in September that the NSSA signed a MoU with the Ice Skating Association of India (ISAI) with the aim of the two neighbours coordinating for the development of the sport in the two countries. “It was under this agreement that India invited Nepal for their national tournament in December,” Khanal said.

Khanal also shared that the six athletes have high chances of securing medals in the tournament. “This will be the beginning of Nepal in ice skating,” Khanal said. “We will do our best to develop this sport in the upcoming days.”