Judo player Sonia receives Olympic wild card

KATHMANDU: Nepali judo player Sonia Bhatt has received a wild card for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. With this, the number of participants in the Tokyo Olympics has reached five so far.

Now, Nepal will compete in swimming, athletics, shooting, taekwondo and judo events. Although swimming and athletics are mandatory, shooting, taekwondo and judo will be represented by wild cards.

Secretary of the Nepal Olympic Committee and President of the Nepal Judo Association Deepak Harsh Bajracharya informed that Sonia will participate in the under 48 kg competition. He said that Nepal was lobbying wild card for Sonia and Indra Bahadur Shrestha.

Sonia, who is associated with Nepal Police, is a bronze medalist of the 13th South Asian Games recently held in Nepal.

Sonia had won a gold medal in the 44 kg cadet category at the 2019 Judo Championships in Bangladesh. Bajracharya said that she won a bout at the World Junior Championships in Morocco in 2019 and collected 200 points.

Sonia has become the fifth judoka to compete in the Olympics. Earlier, Rishi Ram Pradhan and Ganga Bahadur Dangol had participated in the 1988 Seoul Olympics from judo.

Similarly, Devu Thapa and Fupulhamu Khatri participated in the Beijing Olympics and Rio Olympics respectively.