Judokas fighting for bronze

KATHMANDU, Oct 25: Judo players, who have been selected for the 16th Asian Games (Asiad), are indisputably the best ones from Nepal. But Coach Rajesh Karmacharya says the short-term training of three months may not have been enough to meet the challenges posed by other Asian countries who have been dominating the sport.



Nevertheless, Karmacharya is hopeful of securing at least a bronze in the Asian sporting extravaganza that will be held in Guangzhou, China, from November 12 to 27. [break]



“Why would we be training if we were not expecting medals?” questions Karmacharya. “Our players are well equipped in terms of techniques but they lack the strength that is extremely important in a game like judo. The diet provided by the National Sports Council (NSC) for three months is not sufficient,” he added.



Only long-term training and diet would have been effective, according to Karmacharya. The Nepal Judo Association (NJA) is also taking initiatives to train the players abroad. However, the NSC has not extended any support to the idea. Coach Karmacharya insists that the training will be of little help for the improvement of players and would only help them self evaluate their strength.



“Our players don´t have training partners here. Training abroad would at least give us a chance for assessment and also to familiarize with the new rules of judo. But the NSC has provided budget only for karate, boxing and wushu,” he said.



Mohan Bam of the NJA says the association doesn´t have enough funds to send the players abroad.



Judo has fetched two bronze medals in the recent years in the youth category of Asian level games and is expecting the same from the senior team this time around. The players to create the historic records in the Youth Asian Judo Championships in 2008 and 2009 are Sunita Magar and Phupu Khatri respectively.



All four players currently selected for the Asiad are the top players of Nepal, a majority of them having considerable experience in international matches. Deepak Shrestha (U-73 kg) and Rajan Joshi (Above 100 kg) won bronze in the 11th South Asian Games (SAG) in Dhaka earlier this year.



Another player Sushila Adhikari (U-52 kg) from the Nepal Police is also a veteran while Ranju Rai (U-63 kg) has the experience of participating in the last edition of the Asiad held in Qatar.



“I lost against a Chinese opponent in Qatar. I´ve learnt a lot in these four years and hope that my previous experience will be of some help,” said Rai.

Related story

Nepal wins bronze at International Astronomy Olympiad