He said the team’s preparation was satisfactory and is now good form compared to previous international tournaments.

He said the team’s preparation was satisfactory and is now good form compared to previous international tournaments.

“This time we arranged training in Indonesia, Malaysia and China, breaking the tradition of going to South Korea, and the players also got exposure in a couple of international events during the close camp training,” Shrestha said in a statement.

He said taekwondo will be the highest medal sport in the 13^th South Asian Games and the matches will be held at Kathmandu, Pokhara and Janakpur from December 1-10, 2019.

Taekwondo has been one of the successful sports for Nepal. The Nepali taekwondo team claimed all the 14 gold medals in the 8^th SAG but failed to repeat the magic in 12^th SAG.

“It’s true that we have not been able to produce the likes of Deepak Bista, Sangina Baidya, Manita Shahi and Ayasha Shakya in recent times, but the current squad has the caliber of matching their achievements,” says Shrestha.

“The way these players performed in China and Indonesia earlier this month, I am sure we will claim at least half of the total gold medals in the SA Games,” he added.

Taekwondo offers 29 gold medals — 13 in poomsae and 16 in kyorugi.

Nepal Taekwondo Squad

Poomsae:

Individual – Krishna Bahadur Tamang, Sina Maden (17-23yrs), Kamal Shrestha, Parbati Gurung (24-29yrs), Rejin Rimal Ayasha Shakya (above- 30yrs)

Pair – Ashmin Raut/Sina Maden (17-23yrs), Jit Bahadur Bot/ Parbati Gurung (24-29yrs) and Sanjib Kumar Ojha/Ayasha Shakya (above- THT 30yrs)

Team – Ashmin Raut, Shishir Shrestha, Dipendra Gurung (17-23yrs male), Sanjila Timilsina, Nisha Darnal, Swostika Tamang (17-23yrs female); Kamal Shrestha, Jit Bahadur Bot, Pream Bahadur Limbu (24-29yrs male), Nita Gurung, Prashasna Chhetri and Shusila Rai (24-29yrs female)

Kyorugi:

Male – Manoj Malla (-54kg), Govinda Ale (-58kg), Gyanendra Hamal (-63kg), Bir Bahadur Mahara (-68kg), Kiran Ale (-74kg), Nischal Man Shrestha (-80kg), Bhupen Shrestha (-87kg) and Saksham Karki (+97kg)

Female – Kajal Shrestha (-46kg), Yunisha Rai (-49kg), Ashmita Khadka (-53kg), Neema Gurung (-57kg), Sangita Basyal (-62kg), Apsara Karki (-67kg), Manita Shahi (-73kg) and Nisha Rawal (+73kg).

The post Nepali Taekwondo Team Hopes Big on 13th SAG appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

Nepal had won ‘bronze’ for Taekwondo in the 1988 Olympics. Although it was the first and the only time the country clinched a medal of Olympic fame, it was enough to set up the legacy of Taekwondo patriots in the country.

Nepal, a country known for its passion of sports and martial arts, leaves no stone unturned in the field of Taekwondo.

History of Taekwondo in Nepal
Taekwondo was introduced to Nepal as martial arts in 1983 by a group of Nepalese Taekwondo practitioners under the leadership of Deep Raj Gurung, the current Secretary General of Nepal Taekwondo Association.

Through his introduction of the art, the Nepal Government realized the benefit of introducing the art in Nepal Police and Nepal Army departments.

Much later, the sport was opened to the public to be practiced as an open sport.

International Introduction of the Game
South Korea is home to this ancient art of self-defense. Soon after the World War II ended in 1945, new martial arts schools, Kwans, were established by Korean martial artists with experience in Chinese, Japanese and Korean martial arts, across Seoul in South Korea.

Even though the art was being practiced, it did not have a name until 1955. Following its style, the art was named ‘Tae Soo Do’: ‘Tae’ meaning “to stomp, trample” ‘Su’ meaning hand, ‘Do’ meaning “way, discipline”.

The term was later modified by Choi Hong Ki who called it the name we know today, i.e., Tae Kwon Don where ‘Su’ or ‘hand’ was replaced by ‘Kwon’ or ‘fist’.

1959 led to the formation of the Korea Taekwondo Association (KTA) unifying Korea martial arts.

In 1966, Choi established the International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) after separating from the KTA to institutionalize his own style of the art.

However, the world currently recognizes the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) renamed to World Taekwondo (WT) in 2017 as the international governing body for the sport. WT follows the Kukkiwon-style Taekwondo.

Taekwondo Similar Sports

Similar to Taekwondo, there are other forms of self-defense including Karate and Martial Arts, which are practiced both as an art and a sport.

Listed below are some differences between Taekwondo and Karate:

Taekwondo requires a different leg position because the body needs to be prepared to lend fast kicks whereas in Karate focuses on hand techniques.

Associations in Nepal
The Nepal Taekwondo Association (NTA) is the administrative body for the sport in the country. The Nepal Army, Nepal Police, Armed Police Force and District Associations are affiliate members of NTA.

NTA was initially registered with the Nepal Martial Arts (NMA).

Laurels for Taekwondo Stars in Nepal
Nepal hosts a number of Taekwondo competitions at national and international levels, and has a list of achievements to its credits in the field, which include:

• August 2017: Purna Bahadur Magar and Soni Khadka were honored by the Nepal International Taekwondo with the ‘ITF Player of the Year’ awards. The duo won gold medals at the Seventh National Games held in the Easter region in 2016. ITF also honored coach, GHAM Bahadur Thapa with the ‘Best Coach’ award. Nawalparasi was branch was conferred with the ‘Best Association’.
• October 2017: Nepal Taekwondo athletes displayed a great performance at the Seventh Tirak International Taekwondo Championship held in Bangkok. They took home a total of 21 medals including 6 gold, 6 silver and 9 bronze medals.
• January 2018: Nepal participated in the International Open Friendship Taekwondo Championship held in the Itahari stadium in Nepal. Nepal clinched 57 gold medals, 42 silvers and 52 bronze medals. Nepal athlete, Dikshya Thakuri was conferred with ‘Best Women Player’ title.

What a bunch of wonderful memories for Nepal to hold on to!

On a Positive Note:
We hope that the country continues to perform its best at the national and international fronts with support from the government and the NTA. We wish the country all the luck for its future competitions. Shine Nepal!

Also Read:

• Nepal’s Growing Enthusiasm for Handball
• Nepal — A Growing Cricket Nation
• Swimming, A High-esteem Sport for Nepal
• Nepal’s Table Tennis Now International Treasure
• Naismith to Nepal—The Basketball Journey
• Nepal Ice Hockey – Legacy in the Making
• Golf, Nepal’s Next Challenge to World Sports!
• Martial Arts- Nepal’s Foray into the Art of Self Defense

The post Nepal’s Taekwondo: Defense At its Best! appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

Nepal taekwondo athletes put in a stupendous performance at the 7th Tirak International Taekwondo Championship held in Bangkok, Thailand on Saturday, October 21, 2017, winning a total of 21 medals that include 6 gold, 6 silver and 9 bronze medals.

The team competed with top athletes from other Asian countries such as India, China, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan and Myanmar. While Sandhya Thapa, Jasmin Gurung and Narmaya Gurung won gold medals in the pumse category, Ajit Gupta Teli, Parbati Gurung and Rekha Maya Gurung won the gold in the fight category.

Deepisha Gurung, Melina Gurung, David Thapa, Parbati Gurung, Man Kumari Gurung and Ajit Gupta Teli won the silver medals.

The post Nepal Wins Six Golds in International Taekwondo Championship appeared first on Nepali Sansar.