KATHMANDU : The first day of the 13th South Asian Games saw gold medals rain as Nepali karatekas and taekwondoins outsmarted their opponents to prove, once again, that Nepal is the powerhouse of martial arts in South Asia. The athletes did so in style and grit that reminded many of Nepal’s early years of absolute dominance in the region.
All this despite the government’s lackadaisical support for Nepali athletes, who often find themselves undertrained and underequipped in the final weeks leading to big tournaments where they represent the country and are expected to strike gold.
Nepal claimed a total of 24 medals on home ground on the first day of the biggest sporting event in the region—15 gold, 3 silver and 6 bronze. Compared to the last edition of the Games hosted in India, when Nepal came in sixth with only 60 medals—3 gold, 23 silver and 34 bronze, this is a huge moment for the country’s sports, especially for karate, which was not included as a discipline then.
“Martial arts are disciplines that have fetched the highest number of medals in international tournaments but we feel our sport, especially karate, has never received government attention,” said Manday Kaji Shrestha, who clinched a double gold on the first day of the 13th South Asian Games and became the first Nepali to do so. “We can emerge as one of the top teams in Asia if the government invests on us.”
Out of the nine gold medals up for grabs in karate on the first day of the tournament, Nepali karatekas secured seven, including the double gold by Shrestha in men’s individual and team kata event with Mahasus Tamang and Prabin Manandhar.
“We are hopeful of winning five to six gold medals in the next two days,” said Shrestha.
Similarly, Sangita Malla, Nirmala Tamang and Saru Karki also claimed gold in the women’s team kata category.
Emotions also ran high in Nepal’s taekwondo camp with Nepal’s senior taekwondoins striking seven gold medals and creating history while breaking the dry spell of gold medals since the 1999 edition of the Games, when Nepal finished second with a record haul of 14 gold medals out of the total 32 gold medals in the discipline.
“The outcome is a result of our tireless players and coaches. We will be competing for 16 more gold medals in the next three days. Today’s success will inspire other players to do better,” said chief coach Nabin Shrestha.
“We had the home ground advantage, no doubt, but the government needs to come up with plans and back it up financially if we want to retain our success.”
On the first day of the tournament, Nepali taekwondoins pocketed seven gold medals out of 13, including a double gold by Ayasha Shakya, who became the second Nepali and the first Nepali woman athlete to set the record for two golds in the Games.
Shakya first won gold for women’s individual poomsae (29 years above). No sooner, she struck another gold in pair poomsae (29 years above) with Sanjib Kumar Ojha. Similarly, Ashmin Raut and Sina Limbu Maden (17-23 years) and Jit Bahadur Bot and Parbati Gurung (23-29 years) settled for bronze.
Both Maden and Gurung also claimed a gold medal in women’s individual poomsae under respective weight categories.
Nepal’s women team (17-23 years) comprising of Nisha Darnal, Swastika Tamang and Sanjila Timalsina also added one gold in the women’s team poomsae. Another team, of Nita Gurung, Prashansa Chhetri and Shushila Rai (23 years above), pocketed one more gold for Nepal in the women’s team poomsae. From TKT