By Pramod Joshi/Anjan Khadka
Kathmandu, Dec 9:
On the penultimate day of the 13th South Asian Games, host Nepal added four more gold medals in its tally taking its total gold medal haul to 49 on Monday.
Young swimmer Gaurika Singh won her fourth individual gold medal while Minu Gurung claimed a historical gold medal in the women’s boxing. Male pugilist Bhupendra Thapa ended Nepal’s 20-year long boxing gold medal drought by winning against India rival 5-0 in light welter category. In Judo, Nepal won second gold medal through Punam Shrestha.
Nepali eve Minu Gurung became the first Nepal female pugilist to bag a gold medal in the South Asian Games.
Army woman Minu, who joined Tribhuwan Club seven years ago, claimed the historical gold medal after beating a pugilist from Asia's boxing powerhouse India, Shikshya, in the final held at Karate Hall, Satdobato, Lalitpur on Monday.
She won the gold medal in her second attempt. She had bagged a bronze medal in her debut international bout in the 12th SAG at Shillong, India in 2016.
Similarly, Lalita Maharjan had to satisfy with a silver medal after she went down to India boxer Shrenivasan Kalaibhani in the gold medal battle.
After winning the first ever gold medal in the women's category, Minu expressed that she was at cloud nine by beating a pugilist from regional boxing powerhouse.
"I wanted to share my happiness with my family and my boxing team. My dream has come true because I have been able to convert my bronze medal into a gold medal. I have worked very hard for more than seven months after it was decided that Nepal would host the 13th SAG and the hard works paid off today," Gurung said.
"I had spent my prime nine years in the boxing rings and I am still struggling for my best. I was confident that I would beat the Indian boxer after I entered in the final. Now I am preparing for mega sporting event, Olympics.”
Thapa ends gold drought
Pugilist Bhupendra Thapa won gold medal for Nepal in men’s boxing in South Asian Games after a gap of two decades.
Thapa, 30, thrashed Commonwealth Games 2018 silver medalist Manish Kaushik of India on points to kiss the historical gold medal in the Men's 64 kg weight category in the 13th South Asian Games held at Karate Hall Satdobato, Lalitpur on Monday. Thapa won 5-0 against Kaushik.
Thapa became the first Nepali boxer to win the first gold medal after a gap of two decades of two Nepali pugilist winning gold medals in the 8th edition of the South Asia Games held at Kathmandu, Nepal in 1999.
Prakash Thapa Magar and brother Ram Chandra Thapa Magar had won the gold medals for Nepal in the 8th SAG in Kathmandu.
After winning the gold medals, Policeman Bhupendra Thapa said that he succeeded taking revenge against India. “It was my aim to beat an Indian boxer in my third attempt in the SAG.”
"I had lost a bout against an Indian pugilist in the past due to a poor decision from the judge and had lost next match at the second edition of the Indian Open Championship, though the rivals on both occasion were different," Thapa said.
"My rival in the gold medal fight was a high profile boxer who is a bronze medalist of the World Championship. I had gone through all his fights on YouTube and was confident to win against him in the final," Thapa said.
"I went against him very aggressively from the start as I was playing at my home turf. If I had taken him lightly, I would certainly have lost the bout as he was technically better than me. I thrashed him due to my power game, I wanted to share my happiness to my coaches and family members for their support and motivation during my sporting career," Thapa added.
"The four month long close-camp guided us to achieve milestone in the SAG and our close-camp was good and we had very wonderful two months long close-camp in the Bangkok, Thailand where we had played series of boxing matches during our stay at Thailand,"