Phupu defeated her Indian opponent in the title clash of women's U-63 kg to become the first Nepali female judoka to win gold medal in the South Asian Games (SAG). It was after 21 years that any Nepali judoka secured gold in the regional sporting extravaganza. The last time Nepali judokas won gold medals in the SAG was during the 7th edition held in Madras (Chennai) in 1995 when three male players had clinched gold.
Phupu's gold during the 12th edition of SAG, which will conclude on Tuesday, was Nepal's second individual gold.
Tokyo Olympics aspirant Phupu
In the run to the final, she played impressive game by knocking out all of her opponents. Phupu booked the final berth by defeating Sri Lanka's Dibieal Wajewarden and Bangladesh's Kanta and Abrin Mashia by ippon (knockout). However, she fought for whole four minutes against Suniwala in the final bout and finally beat her opponent by wazari score.
"My father had a big dream of seeing me do something for the country. He used to say win for the country. And today I fulfilled his dream," said Phupu. "I am extremely happy and want to dedicate the gold to my father."
Her father Dorje was a trekking and mountaineering professional and died on April 18, 2014 during an avalanche in Camp II in Mt Everest.
The 21-year old Phupu had arrived in Shillong after a month-long special training in Hungary. She is undergoing special training for the 2016 Rio Olympics and shall again directly return to Hungary from India.
"I trained there (in Hungary) for 22 days. Although it was for a short period, the training was fruitful. I improved my movement due to better techniques I learnt there. I wish to improve more in the future."
She added that the investment of the country and her hard effort paid off. Attributing her success to her coaches - Dharma Kumar Shrestha, Deepak Krishna Shrestha and Ramesh Magar, she said, "I achieve this success because of their (coaches) contributions."
Of late, coach Debu Thapa has been monitoring and facilitating Phupu's training in Hungary. Debu is the same judoka who earned bronze in the last edition of SAG in 2010 despite sustaining injuries due to a lift accident in Dhaka.
Debu was overwhelmed after her disciple fulfilled the dream which she failed to achieve as a player. "There are no boundaries for my joy. I had always dreamt of winning gold in SAG. Though I failed to fulfill it, my 'cheli' fulfilled it," said Debu, who has been training Phupu since eight months.
Nepali judo team had trained in Bhopal three weeks before the SAG started. Team Nepal and India had trained together in Bhopal and Nepal was well aware of India's playing style. Coach Debu had made Phupu well aware of Suniwala and prepared her accordingly. She also expressed her desire to play in SAG. "I might play the next edition of SAG," said Thapa.
Phupu became the second player after Nima Gharti Magar of wushu to win gold for Nepal in the current edition of SAG. U-23 men's football team added the third gold for Nepal later in the evening.
Besides playing judo, Phupu, a permanent resident of Lelep, Taplejung, is also pursuing her Bachelor in Business Studies (2nd year). Earlier, she had won bronze in Olympic Ranking Judo in Macau and Hong Kong in addition to repeating the same feat at Birthday Cup Judo in Hungary.
Besides winning the gold, judo also earned Nepal two silver and three bronze medals on the first day of the contest. Lila Adhikari won silver in women's U-52 kg and Manita Shrestha Pradhan in U-57 kg. The duo were defeated in the final by Indian players. Lila plays for Tribhuvan Army Club and Manita for Prisoner's Assistance Mission (PAM), a shelter looking after children of prisoners, back home.
Sarita Chaudhary finished with bronze medal in women's U-48 kg while male players Indra Bahadur Shrestha and Ramesh Thapa Magar earned bronzes in U-60 and U-66 kg sections respectively.
Sanjeet Dangol and Pawan Kumar Shrestha were the only two Nepali players who failed to touch judo medal on Monday. Judo competitions are to continue on the last day of the SAG (Tuesday).
Nepal's judo coach Dal Bahadur Gurung said that the team's performance improved following training in India. "India is a judo powerhouse in South Asian. There were lots of improvements in the team after we trained with Indian players on the eve of the SAG."
Nepali judo's biggest achievement during the SAG was during the 1995 edition when the country bagged three gold, three silver and two bronze medals. Ramesh Basnet, Jeet Bahadur Chaudhary and Bir Bahadur Rana were among the gold medal winners.
Nepal to host next SAG in 2018
Nepal will host the 13th South Asian Games in 2018. A meeting of the South Asian Olympic Council on Monday decided to hand over the flag to Nepal for hosting the competition. Nepal will receive the flag of the games on Tuesday -- the final day of the 12th SAG. Nepal, which had hosted the inaugural edition in 1984, also organized the eighth edition in 1999 and the 2018 SAG will be the third for Nepal. Members of the meeting had requested that Nepal should host the 13th SAG in 2017.
However, Nepal declined the request saying that the country is unable to hold the competition until 2018, according to Nepal Olympic Committee (NOC) President Jeevan Ram Shrestha, who added that the date will be decided later. NOC President Shrestha, Vice-president Lama Tendi Sherpa and Nilendra Shrestha were present in the meeting attended by representatives of all eight members of South Asia.
