Kathmandu, April 25:

The 10th South Asian (SA) Games lifter Kamal Bahadur Adhikari has high hopes of being qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The Nepali Army man, who won the first Weightlifting gold medal for the country in the Colombo Games in 2006, is leaving for Japan on Saturday to take part in the Asian Weightlifting Championship and the Beijing Olympics Qualifying to be held there from April 26 to May 5. He is scheduled to take try his luck in the 69-kg weight category on April 29.

“I have done well in training and I am hopeful of qualifying for the Olympics,” said Adhikari at a farewell ceremony today. “I need to lift a total of 276kgs in my weight category to qualify for the Olympics and I have lifted upto 272kgs in training,” he added.

He also holds the national record of 266 kgs (113 in snatch and 153 in clean and jerk) set in Colombo.

“My first priority is to qualify for the Olympics and winning medal in the Asian Championship is secondary target,” he said. “As I have worked hard in training, I hope for the best,” he added.

Coach Tilak Bahadur Raut is accompanying Adhikari. “He has done well during training and we hope he will do well in the championship and qualify for the Olympics,” said Raut.

Nepali lifter is participating in the Asian Championship after a gap of a decade. Nepal last participated in the championship in 1997 in China. Surendra Hamal is the only lifter to win Asian Championship medal for the country when he claimed bronze in the 15th edition held in Damaskas in 1983. Member Secretary of National Sports Council, Jeevan Ram Shrestha bade farewell to the two-member team. Partha Sarathi Sen Gupta, chief of