Nepal lift team c'ship with six gold(1st Mt Everest Intl. Taekwondo Championships)

Apsara Karki, Anoj Pujari and Sujan Joshi claimed their first international gold medals on the final day as Nepal lifted the team championship trophy of the first Mt Everest International Taekwondo Championships here today. 

Nepal, who had won three gold before Saturday and competed in all the 14 category finals, took their medal tally to 14 with six gold and eight silver medals. Malaysia, who added one gold today, finished runners-up with five gold, three silver and two bronze medals. USA finished third with two gold, one silver and four bronze medals.

Apsara won the first title for Nepal today in the women’s 46-49kg defeating Malaysian opponent Noor Hana Ho Dike 11-7. Apsara, who was trailing 3-7 till the second round, staged a dramatic comeback in the decisive round scoring eight points.

In the men’s 68-74kg final, debutant Anoj knocked out Mohammad Anwar Hossain of Bangladesh 7-1 in the first round. After the first points, Anoj raced on to five points with turning slap kick and added another two points following a double offences from Anwar. Anoj had outmuscled Faqeer Hussain of Pakistan 11-5 to make it to the final.

In the men’s 58-63kg final where both the players failed to open account in the first two rounds, Sujan sneaked past Rusfredy Tokan of Malaysia 4-3 in the final round. Sujan opened the scoring with a penalty point and then won three points in a slap kick review appeal before conceding three points to a slap kick on his face. Earlier, Sujan beat Korean Choi Sungyu, a 4-3 winner against Md Talat Mahmud of Bangladesh.

Gyani Chunara (women’s 53-57kg) and Badri Nath Basnet (men’s 80-87kg) were restricted to silver medal in the final day. Gyani lost her final bout against Malaysian Shari Fahmaryam Alawiyan 2-7.

Gyani was lucky enough to make it to the final after her American opponent Kaine Fumiyelo Lo abandoned the match in the third round. Kaine, who was later adjudged the best player and encouragement player of the tournament, was leading 11-3 before she sustained injury on her left leg.

Badri went down 11-8 to American Jared Reed in the final. Badri had beaten Muhammad Imran of Pakistan 11-9, while Jared Reed of the USA outplayed Fani Bhushan Prasad of India 10-4 in the semi-finals.

... ... ... nepalawaz