By Choekyi Lhamo
DHARAMSHALA, Mar. 8: The Tibetan National Sports Association (TNSA) on Monday announced that the Tibetan Women’s team has qualified for the upcoming CONIFA Women’s World Football Cup to be held from June 23-30 at Csikszeredan (Miercurea Ciuc) in Romania. In a letter dated 3rd March 2021 to the TNSA, CONIFA Vice-President Dr. Kristof Wenczel welcomed the Tibetan women’s team to participate in the World Cup.
TNSA Executive Director Tenzin Rinchen told Phayul, “This Cup is absolutely crucial for the Tibetan cause as we will once again be able to carry forward our Tibetan identity and culture through sports. This is one of the first steps for the Tibetan women to explore the game internationally. The tournament will prove successful with the help of the support from our community and the Central Tibetan Administration.”
The association is still currently in the process of forming the team as informed by the Head Coach Gompo Dorjee, “We’ll have some difficulty gathering the team, since many might not participate because the tournament will require two months of investment. I think it is going to be very challenging since I don’t think any institute will give them this time but we’re looking forward to these challenges to make the most out of it.”
The former coach to the same team at the Vancouver International Soccer Festival in 2017 told Phayul about the unique characteristic of this tournament, “From my experience as a coach, I think we have an advantage this time since some players have already played on the international level. However, many girls have yet to play on big grounds, but our team fared well the first time in Vancouver.
“We are hopeful that the girls will play better. The team has never played with any of the sovereign nations who will be competing in the CONIFA 2021. We’ve previously encountered players from Canada, Poland, Portugal and Iran. I think it will be interesting to see how these players from sovereign states will play against our girls, as some of these contenders are also playing on the international platform for the first time.”
The tournament will be held between 6 teams, and the Tibetan team will face the host team Szekely Land and Chameria in Group A in June. Tibet was a part of CONIFA (Confederation of Independent Football Tournament) Men’s World Cup in 2018 where the Tibetan team lost all three matches against Abkhazia, Northern Cyprus and Karpatalya in the group stage.
