Palesha Goverdhan has made history by winning the first Paralympic medal for Nepal, after two decades since the country started participating in the international multi-sports event.

The Nepali athlete defeated Serbia’s Marija Micev by a score of 15-8 in the first bronze medal match in the women’s K44 under 57kg weight category of Para taekwondo on Friday (August 30). 

Palesha, who was born without a left palm, started playing taekwondo at the age of 10, reported the Rastriya Samachar Samiti, the state-owned news agency. She joined the national team in 2016. 

Earlier on Friday, Goverdhan had defeated Venezuela’s Morales Valeria by a score of 31-0 to enter the quarter-final. However, she lost to the top ranked Myara Sylvana Fernandez of Brazil by a score of 10-8. 

But, the Nepali athlete had another chance as she was defeated in the second round. Goverdhan defeated France's Sophie Caverzan by a score of 2-1 in the first repechage. 

Palesha had booked a place at the Paris Paralympics by clinching the gold medal in the Asian qualifier held in China earlier this year in March. She had also won a bronze medal in the 19th Asian Games held in Hangzhou, China last year.

Earlier in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games, she had finished fifth after losing the bronze medal matches.

(With inputs from RSS)

This article has beeen updated to correct a spelling error in Palesha's surname.