Winning with passion and grit

National table tennis player Sikka Suwal Shrestha talks about her sports journey and how setbacks make her work even harder.

Nepal’s Sikka Suwal Shrestha faced off against Bangladesh’s Rahima Akter at the 13th South Asian Games in 2019. Playing in front of home fans, Shrestha was under pressure to deliver a medal for her nation. She felt her grit slowly slipping away when she was behind in the game as the score read Bangladesh-10 and Nepal-6. The visiting nation’s player needed one point to clinch the game, but when Shrestha realised that her opponent was trying to finish the game off quickly, she decided to play the waiting game.