Kathmandu, March 20 -- Biplav Lal Shrestha, 28, dropped a bombshell on Wednesday by announcing his retirement from karate. Shrestha, a gold medallist at the previous edition of the South Asian Games (SAG), stepped down blaming the Nepal Karate Federation (NKF) for mistreatment.

Organising a surprise press meet at the office of the Nepal Sports Journalists Forum (NSJF) in Tripureshwar, Kathmandu, Shrestha stated that he never wanted to quit the sport he loved.

"I finally decided to retire as I could not tolerate mistreatments from the office bearers at the NKF," Shrestha said. "I started feeling neglected after the 19th Asian Games." He finished fifth in Hangzhou, China, in 2022.

He had been to Australia for more than a month, but when ...