Rawal, Gurung win silver medals

Nepali taekwondo players pose for a photo with coaches Deepak Bista and Sangina Baidya in Pohang, South Korea on Thursday.

Kathmandu, July 12

Nepal national team members Nisha Rawal and Nima Gurung won silver medals in the 2018 Pohang World University Taekwondo Competition and Open Competition in Pohang, South Korea today.

Nepal, who had won two each silvers and bronze medals on the first day of the championship yesterday, added five medals today. According to coach Deepak Bista, who is in South Korea with the team, Rawal and Gurung win silvers along with Bhupen Shrestha, while Sangita Basyal and Bir Bahadur Mahara bagged bronze.

Olympian Rawal faced a 6-4 defeat against a player from Kazakhstan in the women’s above-73kg weight category to finish second. Likewise, Gurung — who had a first round bye and defeated an Indonesian player 15-12 in the second round — went down 22-10 at the hands of another Indonesian opponent in the below-57kg final. Also, Basyal lost to Indonesian opponent in the below-67kg weight category semi-final.

In men’s section, Bir Bahadur Mahara and Bhupen Shrestha faced defeats against South Korean opponents in the first round matches but they got the opportunity to fight in ‘C’ category competition as their opponents went on to win gold medals. Shrestha defeated his Korean opponent 18-9 in the semi-final bout in below-80kg section, while he lost 20-11 against a player from Malaysia in the final. Mahara lost to another Korean opponent in the 68kg semi-final and was restricted to bronze medal.

The Nepali players are scheduled to compete in team event on Friday. On the first day, Anoj Pujari and Asmita Khadka won silver medals, while Sagar Guvaju and Gyanendra Hamal bagged bronze medals.

The Nepali team is currently in South Korea to prepare for the 18th Asian Games slated for August 18 to September 2 in Indonesia. Olympians Sangina Baidya and Bista are looking after the team which has been kept under special camp in South Korea since last two months. The team will fly to Indonesia from South Korea on August 15 to take part in the Asian Games.