Tibetan girls chase basketball dreams on 'roof of the world'

In the eyes of Cigla, who hails from a poor herder's family in northern Tibet's Nagqu city, studying in Lhasa, the region's most developed city, has made it much easier for her to realize her basketball dream.

With an average altitude of over 4,500 meters, Nagqu is among the most uninhabitable places in Tibet, known as the "roof of the world." Low-oxygen environments and extreme weather have long compromised the health of Nagqu students, hampering the development of primary education in the area.

In a bid to ensure equal access to quality education, the Tibet regional government has established several schools in Lhasa since the early 2000s to recruit Nagqu students, including Nagqu No 2 Senior High School.

Like Cigla, many students at the school are from impoverished farmers' and herders' families.

"The students had barely played any sports before coming to our school due to limited sports facilities and frequent bad weather in Nagqu," said Bachug, the school's PE teacher and coach of the school basketball team.

In contrast, the school campus in Lhasa, with seven concrete basketball courts, a standard soccer field and a sports stadium, gives students opportunities to train their bodies and find the sport that appeals to them, he said.

Basketball has been a popular choice among the girls at the school. Currently, more than a quarter of the approximately 1,600 female students regularly practice the sport during PE classes or as extracurricular activities, according to Bachug.