Martial Arts

Nepali player Srijana Ghising has clinched a historic gold at the World Para Taekwondo Grand Prix in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh. 

Ghising became the first Nepali player to win the para taekwondo gold after a convincing 12-0 victory over top-ranked Meryem Betul of Turkey in the 52kg under 44K category final on Thursday night. 

Her journey to the final was phenomenal. After edging second-ranked Jessica Quijano of Mexico 8-7 in the quarter-finals, she overcame the challenge of third-ranked Brazilian Christian Nascimento 15-13 in the semi-finals. That made her the first Nepali para taekwondo player to reach the Grand Prix final.

Another Nepali player, Olympian Palesha Govardhan, competing in K44 under 57 kg weight group, lost to Iran's Evrahimi Roza by 8-2 in their quarter-final bout.

The final win saw Ghising, the silver medallist at the Asian Para Youth Games, jump seven places to seventh in the world Para Taekwondo rankings in her weight group. 

Along with the gold medal, she collected 100 points to finish on 112, giving her a passage to the Paris Para Olympics 2024. 

The Grand Prix featured only the top 16 players in the world rankings. Govardhan is ranked 10th and Ghising 14th. Players finishing within the top six positions in their weight categories get direct entries to the Paris Para Olympics.