Rohullah Nikpai hopeful to put Afghanistan on Olympic map – Martial Arts News
The 24-year old Rohullah Nikpai has become an icon in his own regard in Afghanistan. His love for taekwondo gave him a hope to showcase his abilities on an international level. Nikpai competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics held in
China.
Nikpai was successful in beating the Spanish Juan Antonio Ramos in the fifty-eight kilogram category. Nipkai defeated Ramos has won the taekwondo champion twice. This win made Nipkai reach new heights of success for him and his
career. Nipkai became the first Olympic gold medallist from Afghanistan and earned applause from the Afghani government.
At In 2011, Nipkai entered the 2011 World Taekwondo Championships in South Korea in the featherweight division. He came back with a bronze medal and rose to the status of becoming the only Afghani player who Nipkai was given a
luxury apartment as a token of appreciation by the Afghani President, Hamid Karzai.
The focused Afghani will be entering a qualification round for a tournament being held in Thailand. But his next big dream will be to take part at the 2012 London Olympics. Nipkai has been training taekwondo since the age of ten.
He used to live in the Iranian refugee camp when he was a child and began his training there.
Nipkai has been winning medals since his teen years. His first medal came when he was nineteen years old. His debut medal was a gold medal came when he participated in a taekwondo event in India. He has been coached by Korean Min
Sin-hak for his matches in Thailand, while his long time coach has been Bashir Taraki.
Rohullah is hopeful to give a good performance when he will give his career a boost in London. Nipkai entered the world of taekwondo when his brother, Habib, motivated him and gave him the inspiration to be enter this sport. Nipkai
said, "In 2006, when I got gold medal at the south Asia games, I felt like I was ready to fight in an Olympic match." He also added that "When I started out in competitions, I made a lot of mistakes, I got knocked down..I got a lot of experience from that."
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