From a rented room in Bauddha to the Asian Games podium

Karateka Tenzing Sherpa, 23, overcomes a difficult start, a semifinal defeat and his short temper to dominate Laos’s Xayasan Vatthana and secure Nepal’s first medal of the 20th Asian Games.

Karate has historically been one of Nepal’s more bankable sports in regional competitions, after taekwondo and boxing. Of the 26 medals Nepal has won so far in Asian Games, four have come from karate. But in this edition of Asian Games, currently ongoing in Nagoya, Japan, the Nepali karate contingent has had a disappointing campaign. Until Wednesday, seven of the eight Nepali karatekas—including the star Arika Gurung —had crashed out of the tournament without any medal. No medal had come from any other sport, either. For a country that had entered the tournament aiming for medals in double figures, this was a big blow.