Kathmandu, March 7

Deepak Adhikari won the historic gold medal for Nepal in the 16th Asian Cross Country Championship here at the Gokarna Forest Resort today.

Nepal claimed a total of eight medals - two each gold and bronze medals along with four silvers - in the championship that featured a total of eight events in individual and team categories.

Adhikari won the men's 10km race in a photo-finish with Japanese athlete Daichi Kamino. Adhikari came home in 33 minutes, 52 seconds and 070 milliseconds, while Kamino finished second in 33.52.385. Nepal's Mukesh Bahadur Rai came third in 34 minutes and 32 seconds.

Adhikari combined with Rai and Dipak Suhang (34:53) as the home side bagged second gold medal in men's team event. Nepal finished first with the total timing of one hour, 43 minutes and 18 seconds. Iran came second in 1:44:50, while India finished third in 1:47:49.

Nepal's Rajpura Pachhai claimed silver medal in women's 10km race. Japan's Yua Sarumida won gold in 38 minutes and 33 seconds, while Pachhai came second in 41:31.

Indian athlete Sonika was third in 41:32. The Nepali team bagged silver in women's 10km team event. India clinched gold medal with a total timing of 2:04:38, while Nepali team of Pachhai, Puspa Bhandari (42:55) and Bindra Dhanaje Shrestha (42:55) came second in 2:07:57. Thailand finished third in 2:13:16.

Nepal remained empty-handed in men's 8km individual event. Iran claimed gold and bronze medal in the event, while India bagged silver medal. The hosts, however, pocketed bronze in the three-nation team event. India (1:25:40) and Iran (1:26:56) won gold and silver respectively, while Nepali athletes Ser Bahadur Adhikari, Sanjay Damai and Bijesh Ghimire finished third in 1:31:50 The home side added two silver medals in the U-20 women's 6km race. In individual section, Shrushti Shridhar Redekar of India came in 24 minutes and 15 seconds to win gold in photo-finish with Nepali athlete Ram Maya Budha, who was restricted to silver.

Another Indian athlete Beby was third in 24:21.

India won team event gold with the timing of 1:14:09, while Nepal's Budha (24:15), Rajya Laxmi Rawal (26:56) and Bimala Karki (27:11) came second in 1:18:22 in the two-team competition. A total of 65 athletes from 11 countries took part in the championship organised by Nepal Athletics Association under the auspices of Asian Athletics Association.

The Championship was supported by National Sports Council, Bagmati Province Sports Development Council, Sudurpashchim Province Sports Development Council, Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Lalitpur Metropolitan City, Kageshwori Manahara Municipality, Gokarneshwor Municipality, and Nepal Television.

Also, Grande International Hospital, National Life Insurance, NLG Insurance, Dabur Nepal, MAW Life Jeep, Nepal Telecom, Kelme, Hamro Khelkud, Classy Printer, Gold Star, Gets Travels and Gokarna Forest Resort joined hands with the organisers.

A version of this article appears in the print on March 8, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.