By Sachit Subba • Other Sports • Oct 01, 2026 08:07 AM • 871 views
After a serious injury, returning to competition brings great physical and mental pressure. Nepal's most experienced judoka, Punam Shrestha, faced this challenge when she was eliminated in the first round of the 20th Asian Games, losing to India's Inungambi Takhellambam in the women's under 70 kilograms event at the Aichi International Arena in Nagoya.
If you expected the South Asian Games gold medalist to start tentatively, she quickly showed that wasn't the case. Shrestha started the match aggressively and launched several attacks on her opponent. Yet one miscalculated offensive move ended her effort. Just one minute and 54 seconds into the four-minute contest, she tried a Seoi Nage throw. Takhellambam, who is ranked 45th in the world, correctly anticipated the technique. The Indian athlete then countered and scored a decisive Ippon, ending the match.
Sunita Magar Tamrakar, Nepal's head judo coach, pointed out the narrow margins that determine the sport.
As Tamrakar said, Punam tried to perform well and showed aggression; she used a good technique, but the Indian athlete countered it successfully. As an experienced player, she knows judo results can change within one or two seconds, and you can lose even while using your own technique.
After her defeat, a deeply saddened Shrestha stated that the hard rehabilitation and training she had undergone had not resulted in a win. The loss clearly shows the fitness gap between the two athletes over the past few matches. When she entered the tournament, she was unranked and had made only her third international appearance since injuring her muscles at the 19th Asian Games in 2022; her only other competition during that period was the 2023 Bishkek Asian Open, where she won a bronze medal.
Her opponent made it clear what a difference match practice makes. Takhellambam arrived in Japan well prepared. The judo athlete from Manipur took part in 16 bouts at nine international tournaments in 2026 alone and had already secured five wins and a bronze medal at the Asian Judo Championships this year.
Shrestha's early withdrawal is making an already difficult campaign even harder for the Nepalese judo team in Nagoya. They have yet to win any matches in the tournament and have been eliminated from five of the seven weight categories they entered. Earlier on Wednesday, Nisha Shrestha was defeated in the women's under 48 kilograms competition. Devaki Maya Shrestha also lost her match in the women's under 52 kilograms contest. On the men's side, both Bisesh BK and Bikas BK suffered losses in the under 66 kilograms event.
Nepal will now aim to recover their judo campaign at the Asian Games on Friday. Sujan Gurung is competing in the men's under-90-kilogram event, and the team will also compete in the mixed team competition.
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