Following the defeat of Nepal´s last hopes --Kumar Manandhar and Sujan Pujari-- on Saturday, Nepali taekwondo team is sure to return without any medal. [break]
Earlier, Nepal were unable to compete in taekwondo at the 1990 Beijing Asiad because the sport was not included in the games.
Pujari was defeated 9-8 in the U-58 kg category by Mongolian opponent Bilkun Khoswire after he lost points during the last moment due to the referee´s warning.
Pujari gave a tough challenge to Khoswire throughout the bout, but the referee deducted his points during the last moment following a warning and awarded points to the Mongolian, which eventually cost Pujari a place in the quarterfinals.
Likewise, Manandhar was defeated by Kim Simyong Hyo of Korea in U-54 kg by a wide margin of 13-0. According to coach Min Neupane, both the players were defeated despite putting up good shows.
"Though Manandhar was defeated by a wide margin, he had come up with a nice show. To be drawn with a Korean player was unfortunate," Neupane said. As for Pujari, he said that getting a second warning in the dying moments was unfortunate and also the cause of defeat.
Neupane, however, expressed satisfaction over the level of Nepali players´ performance. "Nepali players played much better than their level and we are happy with their performance," he added.
Nepal´s title hope had practically ended after Ayasha Shakya and Manita Shahi lost their matches on Friday. Both Shakya and Shahi had won bronze during the previous edition of the Asiad held in Qatar four years ago.
Nepal have so far participated in 15 editions of the Asiad and won altogether 20 bronzes and a silver medal, of which 13 bronzes and a silver have come from taekwondo alone.
The only silver medal was won by Sabita Rajbhandari in taekwondo at the Bangkok Asiad in 1998 and remains the biggest achievement for Nepal in the Asiad. Besides that, taekwondo had won four medals in Seoul 1986, one medal in Hiroshima 1994, two in Bangkok 1998, and three each in Busan 2002 and Doha 2006.
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