Kathmandu, April 28:

The 13-member taekwondo team on Saturday left for 17-month training in South Korea.

Apart from the training, the players will also take part in international events including the Olympic Qualifying tournaments for the 2008 Olympics to be held in Beijing.

During their stay in Incheon, which was selected to host the 2014 Asian Games earlier this month, the players will go through special training programmes managed by various associations of South Korea. Nepal’s South Korean coach Kwon Hyuk Jung was the key person to manage the programmes.

The players are scheduled to take part in the 18th World Taekwondo Championship to be held in Beijing from May 17-22, followed by World Olympic Qualifying Tournament in UK in September and Asian Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Vietnam in October. The players to participate in these events would be selected according to their performance during the training in Korea.

The 11 players were selected through a selection tournament held last week in Kathmandu. The men’s section features three-time South Asian Games gold medallist and two-time Asian games bronze medallists Deepak Bista (Welter weight), 10th SAG silver medallist Kumar Manandhar of Mahendra Police Club (Fly), Pitambar Upreti of Tribhuvan Army Club (Light), Ganesh Khadka of Mahendra Police Club (Bantam), Puspa Thapa (Fin) and Sunil Singh (Heavy weight).

The 15th Asian Games bronze medallists Manita Shahi of Mahendra Police Club (Light) and Ayesha Shakya (Feather), 10th SAG silver medallist Padma Gurung (Fly), Bima Kumari Rai (Fin) and Abina Rai (Bantam) are the women players who made it through the selection tournament.

Taekwondo ace Bista was quick enough to thank the Korean coach and concerned authorities for providing the opportunity. “The year 2007 is a challenging for me as I am looking forward to qualify for the 2008 Olympics, which is my ultimate goal,” said Bista. “Training in Korea is a great a great opportunity and we hope to cash on it,” he said. “If I qualify for the Olympics, I will also participate in the 11th SA Games to be held in Bangladesh,” added Bista.

Ganesh Khadka, who is making his international debut through this training, also hoped to utilise the training. “I always wanted to be like my Guru (Deepak Bista) and I think this training will help me to fulfil my dreams,” he said. “If not like my Guru, I hope to do well in the upcoming events.”

Bima and Ayesha shared the same view. “Our seniors used to go out for one or two month training, but we got this opportunity and I hope to raise the standard of my game,” said Bima.

Ayesha said that the training would help her improve in the future events. “After the training, I aspire to win medals for the country,” said Ayesha, who like Manita won the bronze medal in the maiden appearance at the Doha Asiad last year.