POKHARA, Aug 30: Nepal re-wrote history winning a silver medal after 20 years in its first participation in paragliding at the 18th Asian Games on Wednesday. Nepal won the accolade after the end of the fifth round of the men's team cross country event.
Nepal completed the 14-kilometer task only behind Japan, the gold medalist, by just 27 points on the last day of the category. Likewise, the host Indonesia finished third and won bronze.
The same set of players had won the gold medal in the Open International Paragliding Tournament in Indonesia two years ago. But, the game was not recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at that time.
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On Wednesday, Nepal finished second accumulating a total of 11,364 points after the end of the last round, while Japan collected 11,391 points finishing first.
The current Nepali paragliding team, which had also participated in the Paragliding World Cup three years ago, consists of captain Bimal Adhikari, who is an experienced player for the team. The team is a mixture of junior and senior players under his leadership.
Paragliding started in Nepal in 1996 from Pokhara and all the players in the current team are from Pokhara. Paragliding Championship was also organized in Pokhara from 1998.
The Nepali men's team in Indonesia consisted of Bishal Thapa, Yukesh Gurung, Bijay Gautam and Sushil Gurung along with paragliding pilot and captain Adhikari, who had participated in the Paragliding World Championship organized in Colombia in 2015.
“It has been 20 years since the start of paragliding, but we won a medal in our first participation at the Asiad. We ended the competition with a silver,'' Nepali team official Shailen Rawat said, “We had also won a gold medal in team events in Indonesia two years ago and now we have become successful in winning the silver.''
Team member Bishal Thapa, at 16, is the youngest paragliding pilot in the team. He started paragliding three years ago and completed his Secondary Education Examination (SEE) this year.
Rawat said that Bishal had a very important role in winning the Asiad silver. Bishal had come third in the Free Paragliding Championship organized in China last year.
Meanwhile, in the women's category, Nepali paragliders finished the tournament with experience only. The women's team consisted Krisha Shrestha, Pratibha Bhujel and Sabita Tamang.
