Manmati Bista had a firm determination to become an Olympian by running. She worked hard for that. She was proving herself to be an excellent middle-distance runner. However, she was not able to participate in her event in a big competition like the 12th South Asian Games (SAG). She was devastated by the pain of not being able to play that game. After that, she quit running. Which broke her resolve to play in the Olympics.

When Manmati was an athletics player, she was making her mark in the middle distance. The 12th SAG was held in Guwahati, India in 2016. She was the national champion in the 400-meter race. She reached Guwahati with the dream of participating in that event. But her name was not registered in that event. Another player participated in her event. Manmati fell victim to the then ‘sports politics’.

Manmati still gets emotional when she remembers that incident from a decade ago. However, she does not want to analyze the incident, she wants to forget it. Which had changed her path to becoming a runner and playing in the Olympics. The path to the Rio Olympics 2016, which was approaching, was closed for her.

Manmati only said, ‘My big dream was interrupted by sports, I could not play. I could not even understand many things. After that, my heart died. I left athletics.’ But she wanted to stay in sports. The hunger of athletes had not been quenched. She wanted to make a name for herself as an athlete.

She is now satisfying that hunger with another sport. The sport is Kabaddi. Manmati is now a successful female captain of Kabaddi. She recently won a bronze medal for Nepal at the 6th Asian Beach Games. It was the third international success for Nepali women's kabaddi since she took over as captain.

Manmati led Nepal to a bronze medal at the 6th Asian Kabaddi Championship in Iran last year and the first women's kabaddi test series under her captaincy. Nepal also played the second Kabaddi World Cup 2025 in Bangladesh under her captaincy.

Before that, the Nepali team she was part of had already won a historic achievement in women's kabaddi. That included a bronze medal at the 19th Asian Games 2022 held in Hangzhou, China. That was Nepal's first bronze in a team game at the Asian Games. Manmati was an important member of the team captained by Menuka Rajbanshi. She was an influential player in the team when women's kabaddi reached heights by winning silver at the 13th South Asian Games held on home soil.

Manmati's debut in kabaddi was with an international medal. In 2075, Nepal won bronze in Circle Style Kabaddi in Malaysia. The next year, she won a gold medal in the Circle Kabaddi League while playing for an Indian club.

These are the international successes she has won. The National Women's Invitational Kabaddi held in Bhaktapur in 2075 was the first national competition she played in. Where her team Nepal Police Club won gold, she became an outstanding player. Manmati, who won two gold and two silver in athletics at the Sixth National Games (Dhangarhi) held in 2068, has won silver in kabaddi at the Eighth and Ninth National Games. While she has more than a dozen medals in athletics, she does not have a medal in international competitions. She says that she does not have a medal because Nepal is not participating in international competitions. She says, ‘At that time, there was controversy, for some reason, Nepal had very little international participation. I was hoping to win a medal in my event at the 12th SAG, but I didn’t get to play.’

Manmati is now happy to forget the pain of not being able to win an international medal in athletics through kabaddi. ‘I am now forgetting all the pain through kabaddi, I am getting national/international success, I am very happy,’ she said, ‘Now I want to add the goal of playing in the final of the Asian Games to that happiness.’

‘Mission 2026’ is the goal set by Nepal for the 20th Asian Games. Training for various sports is ongoing for the Asian Games to be held in Japan this year. Tanklal Ghising, the then member secretary of the National Sports Council, had started the Mission 2026 training camp shortly after the 19th Asian Games with the goal of winning double-digit medals including gold. Women’s kabaddi is also among them. Manmati believes that the Japan Asiad will be more historic for Nepali women's kabaddi. She said, 'Our next goal is to play in the Asiad final, and we are busy preparing for that. We believe that we can do it.'

Nepal could have reached the final in Sanya, China. Nepal had reached the semi-finals by becoming the group winner. The Nepali team missed the opportunity to reach the final by playing the last match of the league stage and the semi-finals on the same day. After defeating Chinese Taipei by 48-32 points in the first match, Nepal's second match was against Bangladesh. The match was postponed to the next day due to wind and rain. Before playing Bangladesh in the group stage, Nepal also defeated Thailand by a wide margin of 49-33. Now Nepal and Bangladesh had already reached the semi-finals before facing each other. Therefore, that match was for the group winner. If the group winner was the runner-up, the other group would face the runner-up in the semi-finals. India and Sri Lanka were the winners and runners-up from the other group and reached the semi-finals.

Nepal had to play the semi-finals in the afternoon after playing against Bangladesh in the morning session. Nepal had a hard-fought 38-36 win over Bangladesh to become the group winner. After a few hours of rest, they had to face Sri Lanka.

‘The 36-degree sun and the sand made us a little tired after playing two consecutive games on the same day, but we gave our best performance. We were confident that we would stop Sri Lanka after losing in the green,’ said captain Manmati about Sanya’s game. ‘We were not able to prepare much for this Beach Games. When preparations were halted due to the general elections, we spent some time at Dhobighat Beach and a few days in Patna to prepare. The sand in Sanya was different, so it didn't match our preparation. Nepal settled for bronze after losing to Sri Lanka 46-23 in the semi-finals. Manmati argued that Sri Lanka had an 'advantage' because they practiced on the beach. She said that since it was her first time playing beach games, she was not used to playing on sand. But she said that the performance was better than expected with teamwork and everyone's support.

Manmati, from Tilakpur, Bhimdatta Municipality-3, Kanchanpur, has been involved in sports since her school days. Growing up in a flat area, she grew up in an environment of sports. Some were playing volleyball, cricket, and kabaddi, while others were running. She took up running after being allowed to play in the President's Running Shield from school. After doing well in running, Manmati joined the Police Club in 2066. She recalled, ‘My playing career took off after Nirmala Didi (Bam) and Guru Dinesh Pal got me involved with the Police Club.’