Tibetan women's soccer team seek a level playing field
India-based Snow Lionesses and their international coaches chase not only victories on the field but also equal treatment and right to represent their homeland, Ivan Broadhead reports
In their modest home in the Indian hill station of Dharamsala, Lhamo Kyi prepares her bag for soccer camp while her mother makes tea.
Clutching a photo of her brother, activist and author Lingtsa Tseten Dorje, the 18-year-old midfielder says, "My mother and I marched to the Nepal-Tibet border with him [in 2012], to raise awareness of Tibetan rights.
"Since [2008], Tibetans are not welcome in Nepal. The Nepalese army put a gun to his head. He told the soldiers they could kill him, so long as they didn't kill me and my mum." The young woman chokes back her tears. "They sentenced my brother to five years in jail … and two years ago he disappeared. Now, I play football for him."
Lhamo Kyi returns to her packing.
Further down the valley, Cassie Childers pauses for a moment at the Dalai Lama's temple.
"To be honest, it's a challenge," says the American manager of the Snow Lionesses, the name by which the Tibetan women's soccer team is known. "China sees us as a threat. Fifa refuses to acknowledge our existence because of Chinese pressure. But perhaps most sadly of all, these young women are marginalised by an influential minority in the Tibetan community who don't understand that women want, and have the right, to enjoy playing sport."