Karateka Tenzing Sherpa won Nepal’s first medal at the 20th Asian Games, beating Laos’ Xayasan Vatthana 9-1 in the repechage at the Toyohashi Gymnasium on Wednesday.

Sherpa constructed his 9-point tally through one high-value Ippon (3 points) and six individual Yuko strikes (6 points) to secure the bronze medal. The medal is Nepal’s first at the Asian Games being held in Nagoya, Japan.

Sherpa was the only Nepali karateka still in contention for a medal after seven members of the eight-player contingent were eliminated from their respective events.

Sherpa had a challenging start to the event against Macau’s On Tek Leong in the men’s kumite +84kg quarterfinal bout. But it seemed that a bit of luck was on Nepali karate’s side as Leong got disqualified after getting his fourth warning.

According to the World Karate Federation, there are three degrees of warning: Chukoku, Keikoku, and Hansoku Chui. “A competitor receiving a fourth penalty (Hansoku) is declared the loser of the bout,” the WKF states. 

Sherpa then faced Mahmoud Nemati of Iran in the semifinals, but lost 5-0. 

Nonetheless, Sherpa had a final opportunity to make sure Nepali karate does not return empty-handed from the Asian Games. He faced Xayasan Vatthana of Laos in the repechage round—for the bronze. And Sherpa registered a dominating win to win not only karate’s, but also Nepal’s, maiden medal in Nagoya. 

Karate has been one of Nepal’s more successful sports at the Asian Games, alongside taekwondo and boxing. Sita Rai won the country’s first karate medal, a bronze, at the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima. Samar Bahadur Gole added another bronze in 1998 in Bangkok.

Nepal had to wait until the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon for another karate medal, when Bimala Tamang won bronze. At the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, held in 2023 because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Arika Gurung won silver, raising hopes that Nepal could challenge for gold in karate.

Gurung had been expected to contend for gold in Nagoya but was eliminated in the semifinals and finished without a medal.

Her exit left Tenzing carrying Nepal’s hopes of avoiding a medal-less campaign at the Games.

Seven of Nepal’s eight karatekas failed to reach the podium. Sanu Maya Thing was eliminated in the women’s individual kata round of 16 and, along with Megha Limbu and Alisa Raskoti Magar, failed to win a medal in team kata. The Nepali team lost to South Korea in the round of 16 and Vietnam in the quarter-finals before losing the bronze-medal bout to Chinese Taipei.

Min Bahadur Tamang, Nirupa Tamang Dong and Rakesh Manandhar also failed to win medals in men’s kumite -60kg, women’s kumite -68kg and men’s kumite -55kg, respectively.

The story has been updated.