Written by: Dip Rajbahak - 2022008, Grade X
Posted on: 08 September, 2020
In 2017, I was just a beginner in the field of Karate. I was a valley player and because of my better performance, I was selected for the South Asian Cadet Karate Championship. I was quite nervous to take part in that event. The night before the game day I couldn’t sleep I was just focused on that event. And finally, on the game day, I was so scared that I had to play against seniors who had more and better experience than me. But it was a lucky day for me because the seniors and the better players were facing each other at first. Although the players I was matched against were also good.
So I got an easy victory over them. My first two-fights were a bit easy but in the third round I needed to face a national player but I was way confident that I could win over him and indeed I did. I won against him by 4-1 score. My final fight before the semifinal round was a bit difficult where I just won against that player with a 1-nil score. I was so happy that I went to the semifinal round. The semi-finals and finals were going to be played the next day. But sadly I got hurt on my right arm. In the semifinal, there were 4 different players from different nations. I was representing Nepal. I was to face Pakistan’s player in the semi-final.
The next morning we were a bit late because of traffic so after we reached Dashrat Rangashala my name was announced so quickly that I had not changed my dress at that time. So I just ran over to the dressing room and quickly I changed and came to the arena. The Pakistani player got badly beaten by me and I knocked him out. So at last, my final game was at 10 pm where I needed to play against the state champion of Punjab. As he was sledding me since the afternoon. The match started at first he scored a point and we both scored at the same time I got 2 and he got 3 scores and he started to counter again but I counter-attacked him and I got 3 and time was about to end.
He panicked and was furious but I was not. Using this to my advantage I scored 3 more points; the time ended. The final scores were 8-4 and I won the Gold Medal for my nation.
