By Pramod Joshi
Nagoya, Sept. 21: Arika Gurung, one of Nepal’s most accomplished karate players and a silver medalist at the 19th Asian Games, entered the continental event with high expectations of ending the nation’s gold drought. However, the weight of expectation proved heavy as she finished without a medal.
Gurung began her campaign at Toyohashi Gymnasium by defeating Jordan’s Yara Naser 7-1, courtesy of three waza-ari and a yuko. The victory set up a semi-final clash with familiar rival Sofya Berultseva of Kazakhstan, the world number one in the women’s +68kg kumite.
Berultseva, who defeated Gurung in the 19th Asiad final, once again proved a stumbling block, securing a 2-1 victory. Aside from a semi-final win against the world number one at the 20th Asian Karate Championship, Gurung has previously fallen to Berultseva in the WKF Karate 1 Premier League finals in Istanbul and Leshan this year.
Relegated to the bronze-medal match, Gurung suffered a narrow 8-7 defeat to Saudi Arabia’s Dina Ahmed Mostafa. The Saudi competitor collected two points from a yuko and two ippon, while Gurung managed one yuko and two ippon.
Other Nepali karate contenders also endured a dismal outing despite coming close to the podium. In men’s kumite, Min Bahadur Tamang (under-60kg) and Rakesh Manandhar (under-55kg) both missed out on bronze medals. Tamang advanced past Hong Kong’s Ka Him Chau (4-1) and Tajikistan’s Muhammad Mirzozoda (2-0) before losing his semi-final 10-0 to Kuwait’s Abdullah Shaaban. He subsequently lost his bronze-medal bout 2-0 to Saudi Arabia’s Saud Abdulaziz Albasher.
Manandhar suffered a one-sided 7-0 semi-final defeat to Uzbekistan’s Khalimov Khumoyunmirzo, having earlier booked his place in the last four with a 9-0 win over Thailand’s Natthakrit Ingloy. He then missed the bronze after falling 9-1 to Malaysia’s Thevendran Kaliana Sundram. In women’s kata, Sanu Maya Thing was beaten 5-0 in the round of 16 by South Korea’s Haeun Choi.
Despite the setbacks, Nepal Karate Federation President Yuba Raj Lama praised the team’s efforts. “We could not achieve our target in Nagoya and missed three bronze-medal opportunities. This is an important lesson for us. We still have three matches remaining and remain hopeful of giving our best,” Lama posted on social media. Nepal has three matches left in the karate competition.
Volleyball
The Nepali women’s volleyball team concluded their Nagoya campaign with a single victory, defeating Kyrgyzstan in straight sets. Following group-stage losses to hosts Japan and Indonesia, Nepal entered the classification play-offs for the 9th to 14th positions.
Nepal registered a 25-20, 25-16, 25-20 win over Kyrgyzstan, wrapping up the match in one hour and eight minutes.
Table Tennis
Nepal’s table tennis teams mirrored the struggles of their compatriots, with both the men’s and women’s squads starting their group matches with defeats.
The men’s team, comprising Rubin Maharjan, Sanyog Kapali, and Gananjaya Dahal, lost in straight sets to Chinese Taipei. Maharjan went down to Yun-ju Lin (11-5, 11-1, 11-7), Kapali lost to Jing-kai Hung (11-5, 11-5, 11-4), and Dahal was defeated 11-3, 11-2, 11-0. The team will face Bahrain in their next Group C fixture.
In the women’s event, Nepal proved no match for table tennis powerhouse China, losing in straight sets. Evana Thapa fell to Yi Chen (11-1, 11-6, 11-5), Nabita Shrestha lost to Man Kuai (11-4, 11-3, 11-4), and Yonggi Poudel was beaten by Shuhan Fan (11-1, 11-5, 11-1). The Nepali women will next face Macau, China.
Wushu
Wushu athletes faced a similarly difficult outing. Bijaya Sinjali, who won a bronze medal at the 3rd Taolu World Cup, finished 19th out of 21 competitors in the men’s changquan event with 9.146 points.
In the women’s taijiquan, Sabita Rai was placed 11th with 8.653 points. Rai also finished tenth in the taijijian final held at the Aichi Prefectural Hall on Sunday, scoring 9.183 points.
TRN Online
