Sports
SA Judo from April 21
The eighth South Asian Judo Championships is set for April 21-23 at the Army Physical Training and Sports Centre in Lagankhel, Lalitpur.The eighth South Asian Judo Championships is set for April 21-23 at the Army Physical Training and Sports Centre in Lagankhel, Lalitpur.
In all 102 players—55 male and 47 females—from six south Asian countries Nepal, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Bangladesh are taking part in the tournament, informed the general secretary of Nepal Judo Association (NJA) Dharma Kumar Shrestha on Tuesday.
The tournament will have feature seven weight divisions in both male and female categories besides team events.
As the hosts, Nepal will two teams comprising of 36 players, informed the NJA president Dipak Harsha Bajracharya. Bajracharya believed the teams are set to send in their top players considering the upcoming Asian Games scheduled for August and September later this year in Indonesia.
Nepal coach Birendra Ranjit was hopeful of good performance in the event. “We have been under regular training since January 17 after the completion of National Sports Council Championships,” said Ranjit.
“Now we have 36 players in the camp and all of them are in perfect shape. India and Pakistan are relatively better teams. But considering our development of late, we take India the most difficult opponents,” said Ranjit who has been undertaking training of the national team along with coaches Chandra Kumar Dangol, Debu Thapa and Romanian coach Dan Telearca. “We are targeting at least five to six gold medals,” he added.
Roshan Bahadur Dong (U-60kg), Indra Bahadur Shrestha (U-66kg), Sanjit Dangol (U-73kg), Manish Mahato (U-81kg), Sri Ram Makaju (U-90kg), Suryaman Lama (U-100kg) and Rajan Joshi (above 100kg) will represent Nepal in men’s A team. The women judokas in ‘A’ team include Sumitra Rai (U-48kg), Debika Khadka (U-52kg), Manita Pradhan Shrestha (U-57kg), Phupu Lhamu Khatri (U-63kg), Sunita Magar (U-70kg), Punam Shrestha (U-78kg) and Akriti Joshi (above 78kg).
The NJA has estimated the costs of organising the tournament at Rs 5 million out of which National Sports Council will provide Rs 2 million.
The Judo Union of Asia and International Judo Federation will provide Rs one million each. The organisers hope to raise rest of the sum through participation fees and sponsors.