By Anjan Khadka

Kathmandu, Dec. 3: Ayesha Shakya, mothers of two, won the two individual gold medals at taekwondo.
Shakya won her first individual medal in the poomsae category above 29 years at the Taekwondo Hall, Satdobato, Lalitpur on Monday. With today’s two gold medal she became first South Asian taekwondo female to win gold medals in poomsae and fight category.
She added second gold medal in the poomsae double teaming up with her male team mate, Sanjeeb Kumar Ojha in above 29kg. The duo garnered 8.160 points to bag gold medal after defeating Meharun Nisha and Shahbaj Ahamed of Pakistan in the final. Pakistan collected 7.860 points to claim silver medal while Dipu Chakma and Mausumi of Bangladesh bagged bronze medal after scoring 7.850 points.
The Asian Games bronze medalist Shakya defeated Prajatta Prakash of India to kiss her individual second gold medal at SAG while Sri Lanka had to satisfy with the bronze medal. Shakya grabbed 7.94 points and Prajatta Prakash of India collected 7.64 points to end at the second spot.
Shakya, wife of four-time gold medals winner and Olympian Deepak Bista, won the gold medal with 7.940 score. Shakya made a comeback in the taekwondo after eight years as she won her carrier second gold medal at poomsae, Taekwondo.
She won her first gold medal at 11th edition of the South Asian Games held at Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2010. She had won silver medals at Colombo, Sri Lanka in 2006 and Sillong, India in 2016.
SAG has introduced poomsae event in the 13th edition for the very first time in its history.
Similarly, the Asian Games bronze medallist Shakya had won the Asian level bronze medal at the mega sporting event of Asia, Asian Games held at Doha, Qatar in 2006.

After winning two gold medals, Ayesha Shakya thanked all who have believed on her performance. “I would like to thank my family who supported me in my every step and my coaches for their support which help me to achieve this milestone. It’s really important moment for me because my husband Deepak Bista was a record holder of the nation for winning four gold medals at SAG. I have also won three gold medals in SAG,” Shakya said.
“I am too excited to describe my achievement. I felt I won two gold medals for my two sons, I and now I would like to request all housewives to play the game without thinking of their growing age as any-one can play the game,” Shakya said.
“This is a very hard job and my legs had given me trouble me. It was my best performance for which I had kept on trying to reflect joys on all the Nepalese face,” Shakya added.
“I have still dreamt of participating in Olympics but I had ended fight already due to some problems so I shifted to playing poomsae. If this event is included in Olympics, I will certainly try to be eligible for it and try for the participation.”
“My husband Deepak Bista who is much experienced player of the poomsae had guided me to shift to poomsae which was really a turning point of my life,”
This is a memorable moment for her as an athlete, she said. After the remarkable achievement of wife Ayesha, Bista said that her hard worked paid off today.
“We were away from our two sons and the family for the last 45 days. We wanted to do something for our motherland despite being away from home,” Bista said.
With two gold medals today, the Bista Family had bedecked their living room with seven South Asian Games gold medals.
Deepak have won record four gold medals and Ayesha won a total of three gold medals in various editions of South Asian Games.
Taekwondo gives 7 gold medals
Taekwondo is one of the successful sport disciplines for Nepal in terms of winning SAG level gold medals. But during the last edition of the SAG, the Nepali taekwondo players were unable to win any medals.
Similalry, Kamal Shrestha also succeeded to pocket a first gold medal for Nepal in Taekwondo. He beat Rahul Jain of India in the men’s Poomsae to secure the yellow metal. Shrestha collected 8.270 points while his rival Rahul had 8.200 points. Sri Lankan player Rahekh scored 8.50 points to bag bronze medal.
After winning the first gold medal Police man Kamal Shrestha said that he was glad to win gold medal for Nepal. “My rival India was too good but I succeed to beat him for a gold medal. I succeed to perform as my expectation.”
Shrestha, who started his Taekwondo journey from Nepal Police Club (NPC), thanked his Korean coach Kwang Young Dal for his guidance and training.
Anu Adhikari claimed a gold medal with a memorable performance in the U-50 kg weight category kumute event after knocking out her rival Dan Paul Badlegi of Bangladesh by 8-0.
She thrashed Dan Paul Badlegi of Bangladesh on a technical knock-out to register a huge victory. Earlier, Anu made it into the final after she humiliated Famida Akhtar of Bangladesh by 8-0 in the semi-final.
Sina Maden Limbu also added another gold medal at poomsae’s 17-23 age category. Parwati Gurung also joined the medal haul after claiming gold medal in the women’s 23-29 age category. She defeated Sri Lankan Thilakshika Jayabira in the final with 8.250 points. Jayabira of Sri Lanka collected 8.140 points to win silver medal. Similarly, Harsha Singha of India stood third to win bronze medal after scoring 8.030 points.