Lawin Khalil Mustafa, a 25-year-old Finnish citizen, made this possible as he represented International Kickboxing Association of Nepal in the recently held International Open Karate and Indo-Nepal Kickboxing Championship in Mumbai, India. Lawin and four others won gold medals in the tournament and Nepali team won the championship. [break]
Mustafa is in Nepal for his project of Diaconia University of Applied Sciences, Finland and helping street-children in Nepal. As he arrived in Kathmandu on September, he immediately joined kickboxing training. “I met kickboxing coach Deepak Shrestha and restarted my kickboxing training at the Dasharath Stadium,” said Lawin.
“My coach Deepak Shrestha called me for the Mumbai tour and I got the chance to represent the Nepali team. It was a surprise for me,” said Lawin. He was thankful to Nepal for his success in Mumbai. “When I won the gold, a Nepali gave me the Nepali flag and I carried it. I can never forget that respect given by the Nepali people,” Lawin explained one of his memorable sporting moments after his return from Mumbai.
By the end of this week, Lawin will be in Finland with his golden trophy, which he won in Mumbai. “Nepal gave me chance to keep the sportsman within me alive,” Lawin said.
“He is a good and enthusiastic player,” said coach Deepak. “I called him for the Mumbai tournament, as I saw his energy.”
Lawin, however, also witnessed mismanagement of Nepali sports authority during the tour. “During this tour I saw that players are not properly handled by sports authorities,” said Lawin. “We had to stay in Mumbai for three extra days as the concerned authorities had not confirmed our tickets.”
He accused team-manager Rakesh Shrestha of not taking care of the players stating some of the players were small children. He even said that the trophy won by the team was also not brought in the kickboxing association´s office.
However, Rakesh denounced the allegations. “I had been to Mumbai along with Goju-Ryu Karate team. I also took care of the rest of the Nepali teams. Therefore, they can´t blame me,” Rakesh gave his clarification.
“Participants of kickboxing, army and Goju-Ryu teams visited Mumbai on their own expenses. In such condition, how could they blame me?” questioned Rakesh. “So far as the trophy is concerned, it is kept at the office of Goju-Ryu Karate, Nepal. The trophy belongs to Nepal and not only the kickboxing team,” Rakesh reasoned.
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