Nepali taekwondo players Yan Kumari Chaulagain, Pushpa Thapa and Anish Maharjan lost their respective first round matches on Monday while Ayasha Shakya and Kumar Manandhar will test their mettle on Tuesday.[break]
According to Nepali team coach Deepak Bista, Chaulagain lost 6-7 to a Russian player in the first match of the women´s 46-49 kg weight category. "Yan Kumari was leading the match 6-4 till the last few seconds but the Russian hammered three points in the dying moment to win 7-6," said Bista.
Likewise, Thapa lost his bout in men´s 54-58 kg weight category 7-5 against his opponent from Turkey.
In men´s 74-80 kg weight category, Anish Maharjan lost against a player from Philippines 12-1. "Though Yan Kumari and Pushpa put up a good fight, Maharjan suffered a wide-margin defeat because of inexperience," said coach Bista.
A four-member Nepali team, including the 11th South Asian Games (SAG) gold medalist Ayasha Shakya, arrived in South Korea on Friday and the 11th SAG silver medalist Kumar Manandhar joined the Nepali team in Korea later.
According to Bista, Manandhar, who has been pursuing higher education in South Korea, joined the Nepali team after the organizers accepted his proposals to play for Nepal.
Purna Bohara, the General Secretary of Nepal University Sports Association, claimed that the organizers had rejected Manandhar´s entry earlier when the association has applied for his participation. "Our coach Deepak Bista informed me that the organizers are allowing Manandhar to represent Nepal now," said Bohara.
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