Nepali Karate's 'Himalayan Warrior' Erica Gurung won the gold medal in the Australian Open Karate Championship 2025 on Saturday. Erica won gold in the women's 68 kg weight group at the championships in Sydney, Australia.

Erica received the title of 'Himalayan Warrior' from the General Assembly of the Nepal Karate Federation held two weeks ago. The federation believed that awarding this title to her, who won medals in every competition she participated in, would give more motivation and energy to the karate players.

While Erika won gold in Australian Open Karate, four other players from Nepal won bronze medals on Saturday. Santosh Shrestha in men's under 67 kg, Varsha Budhamgar in women's under 50 kg, Pushpaka Lama in under 55 kg and Savina Shrestha in under 61 kg won bronze.

Nepalese players who played from Australia have also won three medals. Vijay Shrestha won silver under 60 kg, Diwas Shrestha won over 84 kg and Sonam Lama won 1-1 bronze in weight group under 60 kg. Erica won three fights while winning gold. All competitors are Australian. In the final, he won by 5-0 points against Boye Crystal. Prior to that, Erika reached the final by defeating Shaylan Peterson 9-0 in the first match and Sundin Ronnie Keery 8-0 in the second match. Crystal and Kyrie are players from Australia who have played World Championship and Continental Championship.

Erika, Varsha and Santosh are in the 'Mission 2026' camp. Other players are from the national team. Santosh also won two fights. Their coaches include gold winners Kushal Shrestha and Mandekaji Shrestha. 

Coach Kushal Shrestha said that his players performed well in the Australian Open and that it gave them exposure for the upcoming international tournaments. He said, 'Erika played with players who played in the World Championship. His performance remained high. Our players need exposure. We got that at the Australian Open. Winning a medal has brought excitement.' 

Erica, who came into the limelight after winning a historic silver medal in the 19th Asian Games in 2023, is becoming valuable for Nepali Karate. 

A year after making history at Asiad, she won silver at the 20th Asian Senior Karate Championship at the same venue (Hangzhou, China). It was the first silver won by karate at the championships. She won gold in the USA Open. Where Nepal won the first gold. The silver won in the WKF Karate League, Dubai was also the first for Nepal in the league. Erica's first international medal was gold. A month before Asiad, she won gold in the 10th World Sitorio Karate Championship in Indonesia.