Isso Tapa, a former pitcher in the Japanese independent Kansai League, is trying to revive baseball in Nepal.
Dipac Neupane, the Secretary-General of the Nepal Baseball and Softball Association (NABSA), announced during the TV show Sports Hour that Tapa is supporting the operation of baseball games during the Dussehra and Tihar festivities, which celebrate the end of the rainy season.
"I haven't been able to return to Nepal during the COVID-19 outbreak," said Tapa. "I'm happy to be back. There has been no baseball action in Nepal for a while, so we are all very excited."
The development of baseball in the country has been a goal of the Japanese mission in Nepal for decades.
Baseball was introduced in Nepal in the 1980s by a group of youth who had returned from the United States, but had very limited development. Students from the Poole Gakuin University, led by Akamatsu Hiroaki, formed in 1999 a Baseball Promoting Group. The first baseball tournament was played at the high-school level in 2001. Baseball was introduced at the Kathmandu University in 2003. The first team, named Laligurans, was founded in 2005. The NABSA was established in 2009. The federation participated in the International Baseball Federation Congress in 2013.
