As someone who wanted to be famous since the day she listened to Kunti Moktan on the radio, while working in the fields with her father, she has left no stone unturned to turn her dreams into reality. She confesses she still has to work hard to be the absolute best but there isn’t anything she won’t do to get there. She has already become a household name in many parts of Nepal, having done around 63 films and 11 television shows apart from releasing a few music albums.
Her journey till now, however, hasn’t been easy. She received accolades as the first female wrestler while simultaneously dealing with her mother’s cancer. In fact, during her first-ever match when she required utmost focus, all she could think about was her ailing mother. She was ready to do everything it took to save her but was unable to do so. That almost killed her zeal to do anything further in life. But she picked up the pieces and established the Mahila Wrestling Foundation in honor of her mother.
“I was in a complete state of shock and grief. But I knew I had to keep going. She wouldn’t have wanted me to falter,” says Khadka, adding the foundation has trained over a hundred female students and around 45 men till date. Khadka wants to make wrestling accessible to every woman who wants to take it up in all parts of Nepal. She aspires to ‘smash the patriarchy’ by showing society women can do everything that is traditionally considered men’s domain.
She has also had some other bitter experiences in her journey. Around 2014, she was offered a month-long training course by Ohio Valley Wrestling, an American professional wrestling promotion and former developmental promotion based in Louisville, Kentucky. She had always wanted to visit the United States of America and this felt like a golden opportunity.
“I had to wait around a month for a visa recommendation from Purushottam Paudel, the then-Minister of Youth and Sports. The visa was later denied as he was concerned that I might not return to Nepal. I wept a lot that day,” she says. It still bothers her that she was denied the opportunity for career growth and to represent Nepal. She wishes to someday be able to go see America and experience it. It’s one of the many dreams tucked away in the corner of her heart.
Khadka has been on the receiving end of much verbal abuse and threats. She is a woman in a man’s world, doing a ‘man’s job’. It doesn’t sit well with many. Yet, she is determined to not let that dampen her spirits. She recalls the difficulties she faced while training with men. It was an uncomfortable experience, one she had to put up with to get to where she is today. With her eyes on the prize, she ignored the harassment and carried on. How the tables turn, the ones who would insult her now want to learn from her.
“I make sure the ones who train under me are comfortable. I want them to enjoy the process and that won’t happen unless they feel at ease,” she says. Khadka feels there’s still a long way to go before wrestling, women’s wrestling, in particular, becomes as popular as other sports. There’s a niche crowd at the moment, she says, who enjoy wrestling. She wishes to contribute to changing that scenario by organizing big-scale competitions and offering free training to those who are interested in the sport.
“I wish our national television would broadcast women’s wrestling matches. It would be a great motivational boost to women like me who want to pursue it as a career,” she says. Khadka dreams of a time when women are strong and independent and are able to take better control of their lives. For that, she says some form of self-defense training is necessary. “In order to teach young women self-defense, I want to provide wrestling training in all schools and colleges,” she says. “Wrestling can help you develop physical strength, which will make it possible for you to defend yourself from abusers and harassers. You don’t have to depend on anyone else to take care of you.”
