LALITPUR, MACH 23

Royal Basketball Academy registered the third consecutive victory in the first Royal National Level U-23 Basketball Tournament here today.

Royal defeated Xavier International College 80-61 riding on 16 points from Ravi Poudel. Royal fell 13-18 behind in the first quarter before they bounced back winning the remaining three periods comfortable. The hosts took the second quarter 16-12 and dominated the show in the third taking it 27-8.

Royal wrapped up the victory with a 24-14 win in the final period. Top scorer Poudel was named the Fresh Bites man of the match, while Sonam Tenzing contributed 14 points for Xavier International.

In other matches, Jhilimili Basketball Club, Kirtipur Basketball and Times International College recorded victories. Jhilimili defeated Solo Basketball Academy 68- 50 riding on 16 points from Bigyan Tandukar. Subhay Sthapit of Solo contributed 14 points for his team and he also bagged the man-of-thematch award. Also, Kirtipur beat Himalayan White House College 51-42. Nischal Maharjan top scored for Kirtipur with 22 points, while Nirajan Yadav contributed 13 for White House.

Suraj Khadgi of Kirtipur was named the man of the match.

Similarly, Times hammered Dharan Megha College 84-50. Pemba Sherpa of Times top scored in the match with 33 points and he was later adjudged the man of the match. Sujan Rai contributed 12 points for Megha. A total of eight teams are taking part in the tournament organsied by Royal Sports Central. Top two teams from both the pools will make it to the semi-finals.

The final is slated for Friday. A version of this article appears in the print on March 24, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.