Karate player Kusum, who won a gold medal in the 13th South Asian Games, and Kajal, a taekwondo player, are not in favor of fleeing abroad because there are no opportunities in the country, instead, they have expanded their careers as referees from this sport.
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In the 13th South Asian Games (SAG), Nepal created history by winning 51 golds. Nepal won a total of 19 medals including 10 gold, four silver and five bronze in karate alone. One of those who won the 51st gold medal for the country was Kusum Khadka, 27 years old from Pipaldanda, Chautara Sangachokgadhi Municipality-6.
She started her karate journey at the age of 12 and her family later moved to Buddh in Kathmandu. Kusum joined a Buddhist dojo. "I participated in learning karate with my friends, and when I was able to play, my mind turned to that," she said. A game that started for fun made him a gold medalist. But his karate journey was full of ups and downs. He is still fresh from suffering a bitter defeat in the first championship. "I would come home and cry after seeing others win medals. But I gained confidence that I will win the medal by working harder in the losing rank, the loss became the motivation for my victory,' said Kusum.
In the national team selection competition held in Nepalgunj, she became the first and was selected for the national team. But she lost in the final of the second tournament. At that time, she understood what coach Deepak Shrestha said, "Achieving an achievement is not a big thing, but maintaining it is a big thing." She says, "I was very broken by that loss, I cried a lot when I was second, who was happy even when I was third in children." In the seventh national karate competition in Biratnagar, she won gold again. The provision was made that the best three players of the 8th National Sports Tournament would be selected for Saag. She was also selected. In the semi-finals of the greens, Kusum defeated the Sri Lankan player in 15 seconds and secured the final with the Bangladeshi player. Finally, she won the gold by one point in the final. Kusum, who won various competitions as a
player and became the green champion, then turned her gaze towards the referee. Participating in the 6th National Referee Seminar, she managed to excel across the country. Then began his journey as a national referee in karate. "Sports made me very mature, I got to understand more karate when I became a national referee," his future goal is to become an international referee. Kusum, who has been on a campaign to introduce the country to karate, is heartbroken to see athletes with potential fleeing abroad without seeing a future. It seems that the government should immediately pay attention to this. Taking into consideration the hard work and dedication of the players, we have to encourage the players who are doing something in sports in Nepal," she says.
26-year-old Kajal Shrestha from Lishankhupakhar Rural Municipality-5 Jethal is another athlete who won a gold medal for Nepal in taekwondo on the 13th day of 2019. She started playing taekwondo since she was in class 8. Since that time, she resolved, "to become an international taekwondo referee." After Sag became the champion, that resolve became stronger. "After that, I continued to pursue the goal, encouraging myself to move forward," she said.
Kajal, who started playing taekwondo after many hardships and problems, participated in the 10th Junior World Championship in Taiwan in 2014, the World Taekwondo Championship in Azerbaijan, and the Sarawak Chief Minister Borneo Cup in Malaysia in 2015. She won gold medals in the first Women's International Taekwondo Championship held in Kathmandu in 2017, the second Indian Open International Taekwondo Championship, the Gyorogi International Taekwondo held in Kathmandu in 2018, and the Nepal Open 'Virtual' International Taekwondo held in 2021.
Kajal, who has been winning medals in various national and international competitions, participated in the 126th 'International Gyorogy Referee Seminar' organized by World Taekwondo and also did the 'International Referee Course'. She is currently certified as a Taekwondo Referee at SAAG and Asian Games level. "This has increased my goodwill and respect for Taekwondo," Shrestha said.
As a player, coach and international referee, Kajal has learned that failure has made her stronger than success. Some time ago, she acted as a judge in an international taekwondo competition in Brisbane, Australia. Earlier, she was a judge in the 20th Wata Open International Taekwondo Tournament in Osaka, Japan and the 7th Heroes International Tournament in Bangkok, Thailand.
She has also completed an international referee course held in Muju, South Korea on January 9. She also won the award for the best taekwondo game of the year organized by the National and International Athletes Association last month.
