Department of Health in collaboration with Tibetan National Sports Association is organising the first ever Tibetan Women’s Basketball Tournament against Tuberculosis( TB) funded by His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Charitable Trust.

Tuberculosis has been an ongoing problem in our community for many decades. Zero TB has been an aim to eradicate TB in our community since 2017 and the plan is to have Zero TB by 2025. This tournament hopes to raise awareness on TB and overall improvement in an individual’s health and lifestyle.

There are five Tibetan settlements participating in the tournament including Nepal, Bylakuppe, Clementown (Dehradun), Bir (Suja) and Dharamshala. There is one team from each settlements and 3 teams from Dharamshala with a total number of 7 teams.

The tournament began today and will conclude on 6 July, His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s birthday.

The Secretary of the Department of Health Palden Dhondup addressed the opening of the event. He introduced and explained the aims and objectives of the tournament and emphasised on the theme “Against Tuberculosis” and elaborated on how this disease is prevalent in our society especially within the younger group of age.

“It is important to support our women on any platform therefore, we hope this tournament will encourage more women to participate in sports in the future.” said Palden Dhondup.

He further requested the players to play a friendly match and to refrain from misbehaviours during the tournament while following the code and conduct of the game throughout the tournament.

The first match kicked off between Bylakuppe Settlement and Dhondupling settlement.