Nepal, Feb. 25 -- In the hallowed halls of Nepali sports, few names resonate with the same electric intensity as Sabitra Bhandari 'Samba'. She is a phenomenon, a record-breaker, and a symbol of what a girl from rural Nepal can achieve when she possesses an unbreakable spirit. Yet, yesterday, we saw that spirit being tested by the bureaucratic indifference of her own government and the governing body of her sport. It is a national travesty that Nepal's most accomplished footballer was forced to take to social media, palms joined in a digital plea, to crowdfund for a surgery that should have been guaranteed the moment her knee buckled on a pitch.

The achievements of Samba are, quite simply, unrivalled in the history of Nepali sports. She i...