KATHMANDU: Nepali para taekwondo athlete Palesha Goverdhan has secured a bronze medal at the 10th Asian Para Taekwondo Championship (G-4) held in Kuching, Malaysia.

She earned third place after losing in the semifinal on Friday, ensuring a medal for Nepal.

Goverdhan had reached the semifinal after defeating Uzbekistan’s Kamola Jurabova in the quarterfinal with scores of 10–6 in the first round and 13–0 in the second. However, she was beaten by China’s Li Yujie in the semifinal with scores of 0–4 and 0–10, settling for bronze.

With this latest win, Palesha has now accumulated a total of five international medals. She previously won two gold medals at the Youth Asian Games and Asian Para Olympic Qualification events, and three bronze medals at the Tokyo 2024 Paralympics, the 2022 Asian Games, and the 2018 Asian Championships.

Other Nepali athletes did not achieve notable success.

Bharat Singh Mahat defeated Kazakhstan’s Gibratzhan Bakber in the first round with a strong 12–0 win but lost the second round 7–10.

Amir Blon faced a close defeat against Taiwan’s Chen Chien-Chiang with scores of 6–8, 5–4, and 6–10.

Kamala Prasai was eliminated after losing both rounds 0–12 and 0–13 to Uzbekistan’s Isomiddinova.

Renu Tamang won the first round 12–6 against India’s Laxmi Radharatti but lost the next two rounds 19–23 and 12–24.

Under the coaching of Kabiraj Negi Lama, the Nepali team has so far secured 12 medals in various international tournaments—3 gold, 2 silver, and 7 bronze.