KATHMANDU, April 16: The departmental team Armed Police Force (APF) has won five gold medals in different categories of Lawn Tennis under the Eighth National Games held at Lawn Tennis Court in Devinagar, Butwal on Monday.
APF added a gold medal in women’s single category to take its tally to five after securing gold medals in women’s doubles, men’s doubles, mixed doubles and men’s team event.
In men’s singles, Non-Resident Nepali (NRN)’s Sanrakhshan Bhusan Bajracharya defeated Tribhuvan Army Club’s Pranab Khanal in straight sets 6-2, 6-2 to win the gold in their first ever participation in National Games. APF’s Santosh Khatri and Province 4’s Pradeep Khadka finished third to win bronze.
In women’s singles, APF’s Prerna Koirala defeated Army’s Abhilasha Bista 6-2, 6-0 to secure her department’s fifth gold in the category. Province 3’s Rayana Shah and Army’s Ira Rawat finished third to win bronze.
AFP’s Raju Rai bags five golds, one silver in gymnastic
CYCLING
Army’s Okesh Raj Bajracharya won the gold in men’s category in the cross-country Olympic cycling event held in Baijanath, Gavar. Bajracharya finished the 5-lapped 4.6 kilometers race in 1 hour 25 minutes and 9 seconds, one minute faster than silver medalist Army’s Himal Tata. Bronze medalist Hikmat Bk of Gandaki Province finished 1 minute and 35 seconds later than Bajracharya.
In women’s category, Laxmi Magar of Province 3 won the 4-lapped 4.6 kilometers race in 1 hour, 20 minutes and 52 seconds upstaging Gandaki Province’s Usha Khanal by 13 minutes and 14 seconds to secure gold medal. Province 3’s Nirjala Tamrakar won the bronze taking 2 minutes and 16 seconds more than Khanal.
HOCKEY
Raman Rana’s four goals helped Nepal Police Club secure its place in semifinals of the 18th National Hockey event defeating Province 2 6-0 at the Mangal Prasad Medium School Ground in Nepalgunj.
Group A’s winner Police and runner-up Tribhuvan Army Club will face Group B’s runner-up Sudurpaschim Province and winner Province 5 respectively on Tuesday.
BASKETBALL
Province 3 defeated Province 5 47-12 to secure its semifinal clash against Army in women’s category, who defeated Province 4 59-31 in the 15th National Women’s Basketball at Ghorahi, Dang. Similarly, Sudurpaschim defeated Province 1 33-29 and Police defeated APF 57-35 to set second semifinal clash to be held on Tuesday.
In men’s category, Province 3, Army, Police and Gandaki reached semifinals defeating APF 60-51, Province 1 76-55, Province 5 68-42 and Sudurpaschim 77-44, respectively. Police will now clash with Army and Province 3 will face Gandaki in semifinals.
BADMINTON
APF won the gold in women’s badminton team event defeating Army 2-1 held in Ghorahi, Dang. Sudurpaschim and Province 1 settled with bronze medal.
Similarly, in men’s team event, APF defeated Police 3-0 and Army defeated Sudurpaschim 3-1 in the other semifinal match to secure the final clash scheduled for Tuesday. Sudurpaschim’s Prince Dahal defeated Nepal’s no 1 Ratnajit Tamang 21-18, 21-14 but his teammates failed to win other events to lose the semifinal against Army.
In men’s single, Police’s Purna Bahadur Bohora defeated Province 3’s Bhoj Bahadur Gurung 21-13, 21-12 to reach the second round. Similarly, Province 5’s Biswa Nepal defeated Sudurpaschim’s Priyanshu Singh Chhetri 11-21, 21-13, 21-6 and Police’s Jeevan Acharya defeated Province 3’s Nischal Basnet 21-7, 21-11 to reach the second round.
GOLF
Tanka Bahadur Karki leads the individual category by 3 strokes after the completion of first day of gold championship held at Gokarna Golf Club, Katmandu. Karki added 5 under 67 points to upstage second-placed Shukra Bahadur Rai.
Young players Subash Tamang and Ajit BK are in combined third place with equal 1 over 73 points on board.
In women’s category, Pratibha Rai collected 16 over 88 points to lead second-placed Kashmira Shah by 5 stroke.
In team event category, Province 1 is leading the table with 144 points followed by Army with 150 points.
SQUASH
Krishna Thapa of Gandaki Province has won gold in women’s singles event of the 11th National Squash beating the defending champion Bhawana Sunuwar of Province 3 at Squash Academy in Lalitpur.
Thapa overcame Sunuwar 7-11, 11-5, 13-11, 7-11, 11-7. Bipana Blon and Swasthani Shrestha of Province 3 won bronze.
In team’s event, Province 3 beat Gandaki 2-1 to win gold. Province 1 and APF finished joint third.
JUDO
Army bagged four gold medals on the second day of the 16th National Judo Championship under the 8th National Games. Police got two and APF won one medals.
Police’s Sanjit Dangol defeated Army’s Janga Bahadur Saru in men’s below 73 weight category to win the gold. In below 90 kg final, Army’s Suryaman Lama beat Police’s Shree Ram Makaju to claim the gold.
Likewise, Police’s Rabin Shrestha beat Army’s Ramesh Bahadur Chand in below 100 kg final to win the gold.
In women’s section, Army’s Aakriti Joshi grabbed gold in below 78 kg weight category final beating Province 5’s Deepa Gurung. In below 52 kg category, APF’s Devika Khadka overcame Police’s Dil Kumari Chantyal; in below 63 kg, Army’s Nirmala Gharti Magar saw off Police’s Renuka Thapa; and in below 78 kg category, Army’s Poonan Shrestha defeated Samjhana Chaudhary of Province 5 to win golds.
