HKNTA President

The President – Grandmaster Profile – Tulsi Kumar Gurung – तुलसीकुमार गुरुङ

The Grandmaster Tulsi Kumar Gurung who is the founder of Hong Kong Nepalese Taekwondo Association was born in November 4th 1961 (Kartik 18 gate 2018) at Sai Marang Gar Bisa, Ward no. 12 Warchowk Gau to the Late Mr. Patiram Bahadur Gurung and Mrs. Kali Gurung.

During his Secondary school, he was much more fascinated by sports and started to join different kinds of physical activity sports. One of the famous sports in village is rock throwing sport and he was the winner in every Thelo Haane (rock throwing) competition in and around Pokhara. It was around that time he started to gain popularity and the respect of his peers and superiors. And one particular person, a British Gurkha Instructor (Mr. Bhagan Gurung, Buddha Chowk and Pokhara) was impressed by his physical attributes.

In 1978, He joined the British army. In that period, British Gurkha was experimenting with a little known Korean martial art, Taekwondo. He quickly learnt the Taekwondo bug and amazingly he managed to acquire the ‘Holy Grail’ of most martial arts, the black belt (1st Dan) in just over a year in 1979. Readers must note that an average length of time to acquire a black belt from scratch is around 2 years.

Beyond Taekwondo, He also achieved many other sports such as swimming, climbing and so on. The year of First National Games in Nepal in 1981, he qualified through the zonal (Gandaki) heats of the swimming competition. Grandmaster Tulsi won the Gold medals in 200m and 100m freestyle and a few silver medals in other disciplines. Overall he was crowned Nepal swimming championship and he was presented the medals by Prince Dhirendra Shah (which was the great honor to his family in particular his father who still resided in Warchowk Gau).

Grandmaster Tulsi Kumar Gurung began to compete in local and national Taekwondo championships in Hong Kong. In 1982, Hong Kong National Taekwondo championship, after battling through the competition, he was crowned the Hong Kong lightweight champion. He defended his title and astonishingly he became HK lightweight champion for the second time in 1983. What made this feat of achievement more spectacular was the fact that Grandmaster Tulsi had only started Taekwondo 4 years before.

Another most eventful and perhaps quite important chapter in Nepali sports unfolded. The second national (at Pokhara, Nepal) martial arts competition was introduced in melee in 1984. At that time in Nepal, very similar to scenes depicted in countless kung fu flicks, different martial arts school would try to champion their own brand of martial arts in a bid to create prestige amongst the Nepali population who were still quite unaccustomed to the nation of foreign martial arts. Nonetheless, it is safe to say that karate was a firm favorite amongst the Nepali martial artists and enthusiasts and Taekwondo was virtually unknown. However, the introduction of the martial arts competition in the second national games would soon change that. In an attempt to finally sort out which really was the most effective martial art but most probably due to the lack of knowledge of martial arts, the powers-that-be, decided that all the martial arts would be combined into one competition, a sort of pre- Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)! Tulsi reached the final to fight a quite renowned karate specialist. Unfortunately there is no video of the final but eyewitnesses concur that it was a pretty one-sided contest. The rigid style of Karate was no match for the elegant but brutal wizardry of Taekwondo, beautifully displayed by Grandmaster Tulsi. Soon the crowds dried up in local Karate classes and Taekwondo schools began to open.

A special mention must be made to the late Mr. Arjun Kumar Gurung (of Naya Gau, Rambazzar, Pokhara) who also played a major role in initiating and developing the Taekwondo in Nepal. In hindsight, if it were not for that ‘final’ maybe the state of Nepali Taekwondo and even Nepali martial arts perhaps would not be at the position it is right now with many Taekwondo players doing well in international competitions.

Apart from wowing audiences in martial arts, Grandmaster Tulsi was busy attracting national news as part of the successful Nepali swimming team. In 1984 for the first time in Nepalese swimming (and perhaps, Nepalese sports), Grandmaster Tulsi and his teammates managed to bag the Bronze medal in a team relay during the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) games

Grandmaster Tulsi has influenced many people as he met or indeed heard of his achievements. For example, using Grandmaster Tulsi as an inspiration and a guru, his wife (Mrs. Ganga Kumari Gurung) in 1987 successfully completed a parachute jump, only after having arrived in Hong Kong. She was the first ever Gurkha lady to complete a parachute jump and possibly the first ever Nepali women too.

Since these heady days of competitions, gold medals and national recognition, Grandmaster Tulsi has been working diligently behind the scenes to ensure that Nepalese Taekwondo and indeed Nepali sports are always at the forefront. This perhaps a more important role has seen Grandmaster Tulsi achieve more accolades from his peers and superiors for his technical expertise and social commitment towards the development of Nepalese Taekwondo and its Nepalese practitioners.

President Resume:

Founder and Incumbent President Hong Kong Nepalese Taekwondo Association (HKNTA, Since 2001 – Present).

7th Dan Black belt Taekwondo (World Taekwondo Federation, & Hong Kong Taekwondo Association).

International Master Instructor (WTF).

Honorary President, Great View Taekwondo Club.

International Taekwondo Referee (WTF).

Hong Kong National Taekwondo Team Coach.

Awarded Outstanding Coach in HK by HKTA, 2007.

Chief Technical advisor, International Great View Taekwondo Federation China.

Chief Technical advisor, Hong Kong Police Taekwondo Club.

Chief Technical advisor, Horang Taekwondo Club United Kingdom.

Hong Kong National Champion in 1982 & 1983.