Devika Khadka was the lone gold medalist for Nepal in the first day of judo at the 13th South Asian Games as Indra Bahadur Shrestha and Manita Shrestha Pradhan failed to live up to expectations at the Nepal Army covered hall in Lagankhel on Sunday.

Khadka won all her three bouts of the women's U-52kg division in the round-robin format. In her first match against Hathauru Singhe Gedara of Sri Lanka, the 29-year-old constable of Armed Police Force Club floored her opponent by scoring a winning ippon technique.

A judoka is considered the winner upon achieving a judgement of ippon. It is the highest score a judoka can achieve which involves judo throws followed up by a strike to floored opponent.

In her second bout, she edged Indian judoka Gayatri Tokas after the latter was disqualified for three fouls. In the third and final bout, Tahamida Tabassum of Bangladesh also committed three fouls and was disqualified with 41 seconds remaining.

"I was confident of gold once I defeated India in the second bout. India are the strong side in the sub-continent," said Khadka from Kumarkhod, Jhapa. She added that the six-month long closed camp training sessions, including one in Mongolia, were instrumental in her performance.

"I want to play in the Olympics," said Khadka who first took up judo in her hometown in 1996 and has been in the national team since 2012.

"As there is no coach assigned at the APF, we have been training on our own and I have been mentoring the APF squad as a senior player," an elated Khadka told the Post.

Gold medal hopefuls Indra and Manita, meanwhile had to settle for silver. In the men’s U-66kg division played in a knockout format, Indra lost his final bout to Jasleen Singh Saini of India by ippon. He had earlier in his first bout, edged Supon Chadndana Kumara of Sri Lanka and Muhammad Hasnain of Pakistan in the semifinal by scoring wajari (one point).

In the women’s U-57kg division played in a round-robin format, Manita lost to Suchika Tariyal of India by a golden score in her very first bout after they were tied at scoreless. Her defeat in the first bout confined her to second place as Tariyal registered win in all four bouts.

In the women’s U-63kg division played in a round-robin format, Nirmala Gharti Magar faced an early setback after losing her first bout with India’s laishram Nirupama Devi by ippon. But in her next two bouts with Hafsa Yameena Rifaz of Sri Lanka and Ukroi Marma of Bangladesh, she secured victories by ippon to secure a second position.

In the men’s 73-kg division played in a knockout format, Sanjit Dangol lost to Sri Lanka’s Chamara Nuwan Dharma Wardane after advancing to the final by beating Tandin Wangchuk of Bhutan in the quarters and Amirul Islam of Bangladesh in the semis. In the final match, with 1 minute 58 seconds remaining in the four-minute bout, Wardane beat Dangol by ippon.

A total of seven gold medals were up for grabs in the opening day of the judo competition on Sunday, in which Nepal finished with a gold, four silver and two bronze medals. Eight more gold medals are up for grabs as judokas compete on Monday.