Thapa fights back to win gold at national taekwondo tourney

Rahul Thapa from Professional Taekwondo Academy, Sonipat defeated Ajinkya Parab from Swaraj Sports Foundation, Mumbai to win the gold medal in the Senior Kyorugi Male (Fin weight) category at the inaugural Mumbai Consul General Cup National Taekwondo Championship here today.
In the first round, Thapa's opponent, Parab held the upper hand as he had inflicted three kicks to the formers torso to take his score to 6, while the formers solitary punch helped him to score 1 point.
However, Thapa fought back in the final seconds of round with three kicks to his opponent's body to decrease the margin to two points and trailed 4-6.

Thapa was constantly trying to break the strong defence of his opponent throughout the second round and finally found an opening to kick his opponent on the face and push him off the mat.
This enabled Thapa to take the lead with five seconds left on the clock, three points for his lethal attack and one point for the gunjum (where opponent is kicked out of the mat). Thapa thus won his first gold medal in a senior category.
The inaugural event is supported by the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Mumbai and organised by KUKKIWON (World Taekwondo Headquarters) at the Bharat Ratna Rajiv Gandhi Sports Complex, Dharavi.

Results:

Men (Gold medal contest):
Finweight: Rahul Thapa, Sonipat bt Ajinkya Parab, Mumbai 8-7; Heavyweight: Aseemsingh Sodi, Mumbai bt Anup Pegu, Mumbai 10-6.
Women: Under 51 kg: Durmaya Thapa, Delhi bt Khushi Bhati, Delhi.
Junior boys: Under 48 kg: Deepanshu, Sonipat bt Himaghna Baruah, Assam; Under 51 kg: Sree Hari, Tamil Nadu bt Vikash Jha, Delhi.
Junior girls: Under 37 kg: Ramani Gajmal, Mumbai bt Aditee Maurya, Mumbai.