KATHMANDU: Kalawati Devi Bista forgot to bring her sickle and basket from the backyard when the news of her son Deepak, who won the consecutive fourth gold medal at the 11th South Asian Games, filled her with bliss today.

In a distant place, Deepak achieved a milestone of becoming the only player in the regional meet to sweep four gold medals consecutively and miles away at Raikar Bichawa in Kanchanpur his family is sharing one of the happiest days of their lives. “My younger son Tapendra called me from Kathmandu to inform about Deepak’s feat when I was busy cutting grass in the backyard,” said Kalawati with a shaky voice.

“After I heard of Deepak’s achievement, I ran haphazardly to tell everyone about him. I forgot that the sickle and basket were strewn at the place from where I ran to pick up the phone,” said the esteemed mother.

Deepak had promised

to return with a gold medal to his parents before he

left for Dhaka. Deepak’s

father, Mahabir, who wanted his son to be an engineer, couldn’t stop expressing

his emotions. “He has unfurled the nation’s flag among the millions. He is now the son of entire nation,” said Mahabir.

A wave of distinct happiness has hit the entire Far Western Region where the player was born 33 years back. Deepak’s family are getting numerous congratulation calls and serving many visitors to share the happiness. Deepak became a household name after he won the eighth SAF Games gold in 1999 in Kathmandu.

The determined player then showed his true colours at the ninth SAF Games in Pakistan bringing home a gold despite a short time recovery from his broken leg. The ace then joined legendary marathon runner Baikuntha Manandhar of winning three back-to-back gold medals, winning his third at the 10th SAF Games in Colombo in 2006.

People back home

were praying for Deepak’s success and the Olympian lived up to his name, “Taekwondo Ace”, winning the fourth consecutive gold medal to stand alone as a new legend, bringing happiness all around.