Nepal seeks first Asian Games gold — Kathmandu Post
Nepal’s team at the 20th Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, aims to win the country’s first-ever gold medal at the tournament and claim at least 10 awards. As Kathmandu Post reports, the delegation includes 135 athletes across 21 sports.
The result of three years of preparation
In 18 appearances at the Asian Games, Nepal has won 26 medals: 23 bronze and three silver. The country has not yet won a gold medal. Following the Hangzhou 2022 Games, which were held in 2023 because of the pandemic, Nepal’s National Sports Council announced the Mission 2026 program. It provided for continuous training, nutritional support and adequate competitive experience for leading athletes.
National team preparation director Dipak Shrestha said the team is expected to deliver results commensurate with the work carried out, including at least one gold medal. At the same time, he acknowledged that national training camps were temporarily suspended early this year due to a lack of funding.
Focus on combat sports and kabaddi
Nepal’s greatest hopes are linked to karate, boxing, wushu, taekwondo and the women’s kabaddi team. Karateka Erica Gurung, who won a historic silver medal for Nepal in Hangzhou, is considered the leading contender for gold. In the quarterfinals of the women’s kumite event in the over-68 kg category, she is set to face Yara Naser of Jordan.
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Another karateka, Sanu Maya Thing, is due to compete against Heun Choi of South Korea in the round of 16 of the individual kata event. Both athletes will compete at the Toyohashi City Gymnasium.
In boxing, one of the flag bearers, Chandra Bahadur Thapa, will compete after winning bronze at the 2025 IBA Men’s World Championships. The other flag bearer, Manmati Bista, leads the women’s kabaddi team, which won a bronze medal at the previous Games.
The number of Nepali participants in Nagoya is nearly half that in Hangzhou: only 135 athletes were selected for the team according to domestic criteria. Three athletes have been entered in taekwondo, which had previously been one of Nepal’s main sources of medals.
