Sabitra Bhandari is not only the biggest name in Nepal women's football. The 26-year-old Nepalese striker is also a phenomenon in the Indian women's football fraternity following her incredible performance in the Indian Women's League (IWL). 

Sabitra, popularly known as Samba struck 34 goals in her first two sessions in the IWL. Sethu FC won the first IWL title thanks to this Nepal national striker's 15 goals including the brace in the final to seal the deal. 

Then in 2019-20 she joined Gokulam FC and finished a record-breaking 19 goals to help the team clinch the title. Even, following severe knee surgery in 2021 Bhandari returned to Gokulam FC in the IWL last season and with a devastating performance of scoring 29 goals including five hat-tricks to win the golden boot award. 

Sabitra made history in Nepal football recently, signing for a premier Israeli team Hapoel Raana for the first time. Along with Samba, the club has registered three more foreign footballers and they are from the USA. 

Speaking over the phone from Raana City, the striker sounded excited. She uttered, "I could have also joined a premier team in Cyprus as Manisha Kalyan who is already playing there took the initiative. But I suffered from the injury and went to Qatar for surgery and treatment and lost the opportunity. Then this offer came to me suddenly and I did not want to lose it." 

The team is training now as the eight-team premier league is scheduled to start after two weeks. 

The striker whose idol is Cristiano Ronaldo wants to maintain her scoring spree in the Israeli league also. She revealed, "I give several hours to master shooting accuracy, minutely watch Ronaldo’s training videos and his matches. My sole aim is to establish myself as a striker here also as I did in Indian Women’s League.” 

Samba's other precious moment was meeting with French national defender Sakina Karchaoui who participated in the ongoing Women's World Cup. Sabitra divulged, "It was a great experience talking to her about the game and getting some valuable advice for the development of my game." 

However, Samba’s journey was not easy. Born in Simpani village she started playing football at the age of 12. Her father was the sole earner of the family. They faced huge financial hardships and struggled to make ends meet. 

Despite difficult circumstances, she never lost her drive and enthusiasm for football and kept moving toward her dreams. She did not have even a pair of boots and football. Her father could not afford it. 

Helpless Samba turned to an improvised football made up of socks and played with it day in and day out. She also faced the rage of her community for wearing shorts and playing with boys. Besides football, she played volleyball and athletics. The girls did not play football in her village at that time. 

Fortunately, a tournament was finally organized after a few years and Samba played barefoot, showcasing her talent. Mr. Sukra Lama, the national referee then, proved to be lucky for Samba. Having watched Samba’s potential Lama was impressed and within a couple of months following Lama’s initiative Samba appeared for trials and got selected in Armed Police Force Club (APF) in Kathmandu.

The lethal striker has the only regret that her national football federation does not seem serious about promoting women's football. She added, "It is almost a year since our women's league has not resumed. The newly-elected federation people do not seem serious to develop and promote the game. In recent years, we have not been able to win SAFF championship. Despite reaching the final last year we lost to Bangladesh. I want to win SAFF with my national jersey once at least.”