Chaudhary, who joined NPC three years ago, said she did not even celebrate Dashain and Thiar after her poor result in Dhangadhi and toiled hard to clear the blemish of covering the distance of a mere 23 meters in the Games. [break]
Her decision was justified when she finally set the new record of 32.29 meters during the Open Selection Tournament for Mission SAG Training Program last Friday to break Sujata Subba’s earlier record of 31.59 meters, which remained unbeaten for 23 years.“I couldn’t perform well in the Sixth National Games because I fell sick. I then decided to work hard to gain some respect,” said the twenty-four-year-old athlete, who began her athletics career by winning gold in discus throw in a national championship seven years ago.
The athlete from Sunsari said she got interested in the game from her schooldays. She used to compete in all sorts of events like javelin throw, shot put and discus throw in her school but she decided to narrow down her interest to just discus throw as she was better at it than others.
She also gives credit for her recent success to her new coach Dhanram Chaudhary, who has been training her for the last five months.
“The techniques I learnt from Dhanram guru have given an extra edge to my performance. That’s because he is the only specialized coach for discus throw, otherwise, we used to have a javelin coach earlier,” said Chaudhary.
Chief coach of athletics, Sushil Narshing Rana, said Chaudhary is a hardworking and disciplined player but the game she has chosen doesn’t have much scope in the country.
“There are very few players in this event and international success is still a pipe dream at the moment,” said Rana.
However, Rana said Chaudhary’s performance has given them hope that Nepal would at least have a respectable position in international events.
“She has to score by a double margin to win gold in the international games. But we are encouraging her because her score is at least a respectable one in an otherwise bleak situation for Nepal,” said Rana.
Related story
First steps to success
