Judokas training hard for World Championships

Kathmandu, July 23

Judokas Phupu Lhamu Khatri, Manita Shrestha Pradhan and Mohan Sunuwar are set to represent Nepal in the World Judo Championships slated for August 28 to September 3 in Budapest, Hungary.

Nepal Judo Association picked up Olympian Khatri and Pradhan for the Championships based on their past performances, while Sunuwar was included in the squad after he agreed to bear his expenses on his own, informed Association President Deepak Harsh Bajracharya. Khatri will fight in the women’s below-63kg weight category, while Pradhan will participate in the below-57kg. Sunuwar will take part in the men’s below-81kg.

The players are under training for last four months along with other 20 judokas of the national team who have been selected from the seventh National Games. Top two players in their respective weight categories in the National Games held in Eastern Region last year were included in the national team.

Coaches Birendra Ranjit, Dal Bahadur Gurung, Chandra Kumar Dangol, Indra Dangol and Debu Thapa have been assigned with the responsibilities to training the players. However, Padam Bahadur Budhathoki of Nepalgunj has been picked up as the team coach for the Championships.

With the regular training since the last four months, the coaches and players were positive about the outcome from the mega event. Still the main target is to win at least one bout rather than going for the medals.

Head coach Birendra Ranjit said Nepal were not in position to expect medals from the World Championships because of the huge gap in the standard of Nepali players and others. “We lack the capacity of winning medals in the championships as the standard of the Nepali players and other countries is totally different,” said Ranjit.

“And it is mainly because of the budget allocated by the government in sports. We do not get enough budget from the government to do proper training and we are still struggling to manage proper diet to the players,” added Ranjit.

Olympian Khatri, who will be participating in the championships for the third time, said her target was to win at least one bout to improve on her past results. “My target will be to win at least one bout to better my previous performance. I could survive for only two minutes in France in 2011 and was able to play a full bout in Kazakhstan in 2015,” said Khatri, the first Nepali judoka to complete the round in last year’s Rio Olympic Games in Brazil.

“I stood firm against Cuban opponent Maricet Espinosa in Rio and that experience will help me in upcoming competition as I have been able to overcome my fear during international tournaments,” said Khatri, who created history when she became the first woman judoka to win gold medal in the 12th South Asian Games in India two years ago.

Similarly, seventh National Games gold medallist Mohan Basnet, who has decided to retire from judo competitions after the Championships, said he would also try to win a couple of bouts. “I have trained well for the event and I will try my level best to win a couple of bouts,” said Sunuwar, who has spent more than two decades in judo. The 40-year-old Sunuwar, who has been coach in different schools of the valley, said playing in the World Championships would be a great achievement for him and he would continue coaching after his retirement.

Meanwhile, coach Chandra Kumar Dangol said they would focus on power and speed training to prepare the judokas for the World Championships. “We have been conducting the training based on the new techniques and will be focusing on power and speed training which will be beneficial for the players in international competition,” said Dangol.