Kathmandu, August 30
Nepali para taekwondo athlete Palesha Goverdhan will play her first match in the Paris Paralympics today.
In the K-44 category, under the women’s 57 kg weight class, Palesha will compete against Venezuela’s Valeria Morales in the first round. The match, scheduled to take place at the Grand Palais in Paris, will begin at 1:15 pm.
The winner of this match will face Brazilian Mayara Silvana Fernandez in the quarterfinals. Fernandez received a bye to advance directly to the quarterfinals.
Another para taekwondo athlete from Nepal, Bharat Singh Mahata, competing in the K-44 category under the men’s 58 kg weight class, lost his first match against Japan’s Mitsuya Tanaka on Thursday. This was Mahata’s first time competing in the Paralympics, having qualified via a wild card entry.
Nepal has high hopes for a medal from Palesha, as she qualified for the Paralympics after passing the selection rounds.
Palesha secured her participation in the Paris Paralympics by winning a gold medal at the Asian Qualification Tournament for the Paralympics held in Taiyuan, China, earlier this year. She is the first Nepali athlete to qualify for the Paralympics through the selection rounds. Palesha also won a historic bronze medal in the 19th Asian Games.
Additionally, she has experience competing in the Tokyo Paralympics, where she lost to a Chinese athlete in the match for the bronze medal.
The Nepali para taekwondo team arrived in Paris after a month of training in Manchester, England.
Apart from para taekwondo, Bhim Bahadur Kumal will also compete for Nepal in the Paris Paralympics in para swimming. He will compete in the men’s 50-meter freestyle event.
