Arika Gurung grabs silver in 20th Asian Senior Karate

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Sept. 23: Karateka Arika Gurung made another history in Hangzhou, China. This time by winning a silver medal at the 20th Asian Senior Karate Championship. It was the first medal that Nepal won in the Championship.

Gurung, after making history with a silver in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, won another historic medal for Nepal in the same region. Gurung lost to Nguyen Thi Ngoan of Vietnam in the final of the Female Kumite 68+kg category which limited her to silver.

Coached by Kushal Shrestha, Gurung entered the final of the 20th Asian Senior Karate Championship after defeating karatekas from the Philippines, Kazakhstan and Thailand. However, Gurung was defeated in the final without being able to score a single point. Nguyen defeated Gurung with a score of 6-0.

Gurung provided Nepal with the biggest honour in the tournament where a team of 11 karatekas had participated. Min Bahadur Tamang (-60kg), Santosh Shrestha (-67kg), Mohammad Sekhu Alam (-84kg) and Ashish Shrestha (+84kg) were the karatekas in the male category and Arika, Jiya Karki (-55kg) and Nirupa Dong Tamang (-61kg) were representing Nepal from the female category.

Likewise, Swanim Manandhar, Alisha Raskoti Magar, Megha Limbu and Tappi Thapa represented in kata.

After the silver, Arika received congratulatory messages from many sports stakeholders, including the National Sports Council, showing that the history maker will get a good welcome upon her return to Nepal.

Nepali karate’s history maker Arika has so far participated in five international events. She had not returned empty hand from those tournaments. 

She won her first international gold medal during the 10th World Siteriyo Karate Championship in September 2023. After that, she bagged silver medal in 19th Asian Games held in China. It was the Nepali karate’s first silver medal in Asiad. She then competed in US Open Karate Championship and won their gold medal in U-20 category and silver medal in open category. 

Following that, Arika won another gold medal in 8th South Asian Karate Championship held in Thimpu, Bhutan. 

The silver medal at 20th Asian Senior Karate Championship was her sixth overall international medal.