Kathmandu, Oct. 10 -- At just 22, karateka Arika Gurung is already one of Nepal's most decorated athletes.

She won the landmark silver in the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023. After that, her international rise has been meteoric-bronze at the Karate 1 Premier League in Rabat, Morocco; gold at the Karate 1 Series in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; silver at the Karate 1 Premier Leagues in Istanbul, Turkey, and Leshan, China; and bronze at the 22nd Asian Senior Championship in Bali, Indonesia.

Last month, Gurung went into the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games aiming for nothing less than gold. She entered the regional competition ranked eighth in the world in the female kumite +68kg category. If there was anyone who would bring a maiden gold medal for Nepal f...