Phupu Lhamu Khatri became the first women judoka to strike gold medal in wushu at the South Asian Games and first since 1995 when she won the women’s below-63kg division final bout against Sunibala Devi Huidrom of India here on Monday.

It was also only third gold medal that Nepal has won so far at the Games after Nima Gharti Magar in wushu on February 8 and men’s football won 2-1 against India in final later in the day in Guwahati.

At the end of the 11th day of the Games, Nepal have so far won three gold, 23 silver and 29 bronze medals. Her coach Debu Thapa, who won bronze medal in each of the last two SA Games, said Khatri can scale new heights, given her success so early in her career. “She has the potential to shine at even bigger arena,” said Thapa.

The 21-year-old Khatri, who hails from Taplejung, won all four matches to secure the title at the Nehru Sports Complex. Khatri stormed to gold medal clash after knocking out D Wijewardene of Sri Lanka, Kanta D Chowdury of Bangladesh and Ambreen Masih of Pakistan. She was on fire even against one for the title favourites Huidrom, winning the bout 10-1 under waza-ari system. When two waza-ari are awarded in the same match, it is considered to be same as ippon or full point and the match ends. The Tribhuvan Army Club athlete Lama has been undergoing training under the IOC scholarship for Rio Games for the last one month in Budapest, Hungary.  

Judo was included at the Games for the first time during the sixth edition Dhaka, Bangladesh in 1993 where Nepal won four silver and won bronze medals. Nepal went one better in the next edition held in Madras, India in 1995 wining three gold, three silver and two bronze medals. Ramesh Basnet, Bir Bahadur Rana and Jit Bahadur Chaudhary had struck gold for Nepal.

Judo was excluded from the Games in 1999 and 2004 before gaining entry since 2006 Colombo Games (10th edition) where Nepal could only win two bronze medals. During the 11th SA Games in Dhaka in 2010, Nepal earned four bronze medals.

Meanwhile. judoka gold medal hopefuls Lila Adhikari and Manita Shrestha Pradhan were restricted to silver medal after losing their final bouts on Monday. Adhikari won the below-52kg division games against opponents from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan but faltered when it really mattered most. She lost the gold medal clash to Kalpana Devi Thoudom of India. Pradhan lost against Indian opponent Anita Chanu Angom in the women’s below-57kg division title clash. She had secured the gold medal clash after seeing off opponents from Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Taekwondo fails to win gold

Nepali taekwondo rounded up its campaign in Shillong on Monday with seven silver and three bronze medals. It was the worst outing of the Nepali taekwondo since the discipline was included at the regional meet from the eight edition held in Kathmandu in 1999. The most successful Nepali sports discipline at the Games, taekwondo had provided Nepal 24 gold

medals coming into the 12th edition. Taekwondo had never failed to win gold medal since 1999.

Ayesha Shakya, Nima Gurung, Saksham Karki and Bir Bahadur Mahara all reached the gold medal match but then all of them lost to be restricted to silver medal.

The only Nepali gold medallist from the last edition, Shakya fought like the champions in the women’s below-62kg category but eventually lost to Margerita Regi of India 3-0 under golden points system after the normal time ended in 6-6 deadlock. Shakya had made it to the title clash after seeing off the challenges from Bandana Biswas of Bangladesh and Sonam Yangtsho of Bhutan.

Nima Gurung lost the women’s below-53kg category final against another India opponent Latika Bhandari of India 16-8. Gurung made it to the final after wining the first round game against S Gunawarnana of Sri Lanka and semi-final against Nila Ahmadi of Afghanistan.

Karki was outplayed 7-1 by Navjeet Man of India in the men’s below-80kg division final. Karki had defeated G Kafayatullah of Afghanistan in the first round and Kusung Wangdi of Bhutan in semi-finals en route to the final.

Mahara lost the men’s below 63kg category final to Ahmad Ali Bakshi of Afghanistan 12-19. Earlier, Mahara beat Delan Sanjeewa of Sri Lanka in the first round and Chimi Wangchuk of Bhutan in the last four clash.

Women’s football wins silver

Nepali women’s team were restricted to silver medal for the second time in a row after losing the final 4-0 against India in at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Shillong on Monday. Kamala Devi was the star performer for the defending champions, scoring twice while Bala Devi and Ashalata Devi scored the other goals for the hosts.

Nepal were promising in the early stages and had a cautious looking India on the back foot but soon lost momentum around fifteen minutes into play. Nepal got close to securing a 23rd minute lead when Anita Basnet placed a freekick only to be denied by Indian custodian Aditi Chauhan. India’s

breakthrough came in the 32nd minute when Bala Devi delivered a cross to Kamala Devi, who found the back of the nets

India’s added to their tally in the 56th minute through Kamala after she collected a rebound inside the area from a Sasmita Malik corner. India made it 3-0 in the 71st minute, this time through Bala Devi after another cross from Sasmita. Bala controlled the cross and placed an easy shot past Lila to hand the host nation their third goal of the match.

Nepal’s Sabitra Bhandari nearly reduced the deficit with a 78th minute shot but India’s custodian Aditi Chauhan made a brilliant save. Two minutes later, Ashalata Devi delivered a venomous shot from outside the box off a rebound and found goal, thereby leaving very little hope for a Nepal comeback.

India controlled the last few minutes, maintaining their calm and eventually finished the final with a 4-0 win.

India coach Sajid Yusuf Dhar praised his team’s overall performance, saying that it was a collective effort. “We started off cautiously but soon picked up pace and from there on, everything worked out well for us,” he said.