Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, March 24:

Kicking and spiring throughout the day is surely a tiring job. Manita Shahi, Ganesh Thapa and Kumar Manandhar have been doing exactly this for the last eight days as they prepare for the 17th World Taekwondo Championship to be held in Spain from April 13-17. All are slogging hard hoping to win a medal for the country. Manita, 22, started to play taekwondo since 1999. “I am working hard for the top honour,” said Shahi, who will fight in the bantam weight (51-55kg) category. Shahi, who beat Aayasha Shakya at the qualifying round revealed: “I am satisfied with the training, but it would have been better if the selection was held a couple of weeks earlier.” Ganesh Thapa, who will fight in the bantam (58-62kg) weight category won gold at the second DGSC Taekwondo Championship in Darjeeling in 2003.

Coach Min Thapa was not satisfied with the duration of the camp. “We would have held the selections earlier had we been authorised to do so,” he said. The athletes run for more than an hour in the morning for stamina building; and in afternoon and evening, they are trained with tactics on kicking and spiring. “Since taekwondo is all about kicks and punches, I have been observing their capacity to charge kicks and punches in three minutes,” said Thapa revealing that their strength had increased in the eight days of training.

“I spend my whole day training and I am sure I will win something for Nepal,” said Kumar Manandhar, who made it to the semis beating athletes from Malaysia and Japan at the Olympics qualifying tournament in Bangkok and France respectively. Except for Kumar, the five-day tournament will be the first ever international tournament for Manita and Ganesh. “I have experience of fighting against Nepali athletes, but never got a chance to fight abroad,” said Thapa, who disclosed that it as a challenge for him to do well in Madrid. Kumar will fight in finn (54kg) weight category. The draws will be realesed on April 12. There will be athletes from 110 countries in eight different weight categories.