Shillong — Wushu player Nima Gharti Magar earned the first gold medal for Nepal on the fourth day of 12th South Asian Games held at the Assam Rifle Sports Complex in Shillong, 8 February.
Nepal so far has won 21 medals including one gold, five silver and fifteen bronze.
Nima finished first ahead of India and Pakistan with a total score of 16.89 points in women’s NanQuan All-round to win Nepal’s first gold.
India’s Swecha Jatav was second with 16.33 points, while Pakistan’s Mubashra Akhtar came third with 12.70 points.
“It is a proud moment and wonderful feeling. I cannot express my happiness in words,” said Nima affiliated with Ninza Wushu Quan of Lalitpur.
“I want to thank my family, coaches and school teachers for their unconditional support,” Nima said.
Coach Prakash Maharjan was satisfied with the overall performance of Nima and described the moment as one of the happiest ones.
“She put on her best show,” said Maharjan. “She committed minor mistakes but we have to be happy as performing like a champion in the first international tournament is not easy,” he said adding, “that too after training at a place where players do not have high-class facilities.”
Maharjan described Nima as “a fast and upcoming player with high discipline.”
“She is a junior player with a lot of potential. She has improved remarkably in a short period which is a good sign for the sport. If she continues like this and keeps on training, Nepal can win gold medal in Asian Games in near future,” he assured.
Tenth grade student at Nepal Don Bosco School Lalitpur, Nima hails from Rukum and has been living at Gwarko, Lalitpur.
After achieving the feat in her international debut, Nima said, “I was frightened at the beginning. I could not hear anything. Even the sword slipped off my hand because I might have hurried too much.”
“However, I did not lose my composure and regained my self-confidence. I kept up my determination until the last moments,” added 16 year old Nima.
“Thank you gurus (of guan) and sirs (of school),”she said crediting her achievement to her trainers and teachers of Don Bosco School.
Nepal Don Bosco School knew no bounds of joy to hear that Nima had bagged the gold in SAG.
Vice-Principal Fr. Satish Savio Rai said, “Nima is the student of class 10A and she has been a good model to all. She is a hard working girl. She is a good athlete. Not only Wushu but she has a knack of playing all the games. She takes active part in all the school activities. She has taken part in the marathon race, badminton, basketball, and football. She has a great love for her studies as well for games.“
One of the teachers added, “She is a girl who has lots of respect for her teachers. She is quite but knows what to do and is focused on it. She is a hard-working girl. Today we can see the fruit of that hard work.”
Principal of Nepal Don Bosco School Fr. T. L. Joseph said, “I am proud of her and she has made our country Nepal proud and our school too. It is through sheer hard work and consistency that she has achieved this. Congrats to Nima and to her parents.”
One of Nima’s friends was so excited to hear the news that she won the gold medal she just jumped around shouting with joy saying, “Father, Nima had told us that she would win the medal and would come back with it and give us a party.”
“A girl with a smile and looking to achieve something in her life, Nima had a dream like Don Bosco and her dream came true” said Fr Rai.