Record holder Nepali taekwondo ace Deepak Bista came into limelight again last week as he made his official debut as a coach. His appointment has created a buzz in Nepali sports sector.
Bista, who is the only player to win four consecutive gold medals in the South Asian Games, took the charge of the Nepali taekwondo team for the ongoing 21st World Taekwondo Championship in Puebla, Mexico. Bista is guiding three Nepali players in the week-long tournament which will conclude on Sunday.[break]
Bista is considered to be the most successful Nepali player so far. He has won four South Asian Games gold medals, two Asian Games bronze medals and is the second Nepali athlete to qualify for the Olympics through competitive means.
Bista, who had started his international playing career with the 13th edition of the World Taekwondo Championship held in Hong Kong 16 years ago, in charge of the country’s new taekwondo talents– Gyani Chunara, Arun Adhikari, and Ranjan Shrestha.
“My aim is to produce good players and to help them achieve international success,” said Bista, who had coached Nepali taekwondo players at the World University Games and Asian University Games earlier. “Meanwhile, the world championship is a huge challenge for me. I now have to focus on these young players’ performances along with my own,” he added before leaving Kathmandu on Tuesday.
Kailash Dutta Bhatta, Captain, National Volleyball Team
Following a decade of volleyball career, Kailash Dutta Bhatta was appointed the captain of the national men’s volleyball team last week. Bhatta became the talk of the town after he replaced the longest serving captain of Nepali volleyball, Bharat Shah. Shah was the captain of the Nepali volleyball team for the last 14 years.
Bhatta, 30, is from Bishalpur, Baitadi, and started playing volleyball for local clubs at the district level. But he came into the limelight only after he joined the Armed Police Force (APF) 11 years ago.
The senior AFP constable has already represented Nepal in the 10th South Asian Games (SAG) held in Colombo and in the 11th SAG held in Dhaka. He also represented Nepal in the 2nd Asian Beach Volleyball.
“I wish to lead the national team in the upcoming SAG and win a medal there. Meanwhile, I also want to take the team to Asian level tournaments,” said Bhatta.
He led Nepal to third-place finish during the Ist South Asian Invitational Men’s Volleyball Championship, which concluded in Kathmandu recently.
Related story
Progress on government-set annual targets and milestones dismal
-1770648553.webp)
