Wushu team leaves for China

KATHMANDU, Oct 21: Wushu players who left for China on Friday amidst the festive seasons of Dashain and Tihar said that their game is more important than celebrating the festivals.



“We are feeling a bit sad as we won´t be here in Tihar but our priority is Asiad,” said Raju Maharjan before leaving for Guangzhou for a 20-day training ahead of the 16th Asian Games (Asiad) scheduled for November 12-27.[break] Other players Puroshattam Rijal and Bidhya Maharjan also shared similar sentiments.



The 11th South Asian Games (SAG) gold medalist Binita Maharjan said foreign training will be of great help for the Nepali players. “We had communication problem during our last foreign trip but this time our chief coach Pranil Dhwoj Karki, who knows Chinese, is there to assist us. So we will be able to gain more benefit this time,” she said.



Another SAG gold medalist Ang Babu Lama hopes at least to not return empty handed but said it is more important to put up a good performance. “I´ll try my best to bring back medal for my country but all that matters is to perform well,” he said. Lama had won gold in the Second International Taichi Championships last year but said regulation movement in Asiad will be comparatively tough as it is performed keeping the Olympics as a target.



The team coach Navaraj Lama is not so optimistic though. “Although it is our mission to win medals in the Asiad, we won´t be able to give 100 percent performance because the government hasn´t given proper attention for the training,” he said. “Here we have only 30 percent training compared to that of the foreigners,” added the coach.



The 17-member team that left for China includes 13 players and four coaches. The players selected for thaulo are Binita Maharjan, Bidhya Maharjan and Sami Lama in women´s category. The players in men´s category are Ang Babu Lama, Raju Maharjan, Bikash Rai and Nirajan Ale Magar.



The players taking part in San-sau are Elina Chaudhary (52 kg) and Jharana Gurung (60 kg) in women´s category and Raj Kumar Rasaili (56 kg), Mangal Prasad Pandey (60 kg), Puroshattam Rijal (65 kg) and Bhushan Bajracharya (75 kg) in men´s category.



Navaraj Lama and Amber Bahadur Thing are the team coaches while Gopal Shrestha is the assistant coach. The team headed by wushu chief coach Pranil Dhwoj Karki was given a farewell by Nepal School Wushu Committee.

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