KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 24

Nepali shooter Shlisha Bhandari broke the national record in her first international competition, while tennis player Pradip Khadka won the first round match in the 19th Asian Hames in Hangzhou today.

Bhandari set the new national record in women's 10m air rifle event. She accumulated 616.9 points out of 640 in the qualification round to break the previous mark of 616.8 held by Olympian Kalpana Pariyar. Pariyar has set the record during the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. According to the team officials, Bhandari had scored 630.1 points in training at home.

The Tribhuvan Army Club shooter, Bhandari scored 101.1, 100.3 and 102.5 points in the first three rounds, while she improved her performance in the final three rounds earning 105, 104.8 and 103.2 points. The 19-yearold Bhandari had finished fourth in individual event and bagged gold medal in the team event of the ninth National Games - her first domestic competition.

Another Nepali shooter, Sushmita Nepal scored 607.9 points in the qualification round. The 22-year-old Nepal - whose personal best score is 605.1 set in the Asian Championships in Doha in 2019 - scored 103.2, 100 and 102.6 points in the first three rounds, while she earned 99.3, 102.2 and 100.6 in the next three rounds. Out of the total 62 participants in the qualification round, Bhandari finished 47th, while Nepal came in 58th place. Three shooters did not finish their rounds.

In tennis, Khadka won the first round match in men's singles event and advanced to the round of 32. Khadka outplayed Timor-Leste's Mendes Antonio 6-0, 6-0 on Sunday and he will face Japanese opponent in the next round.

Two women players, Nepal No 1 Abhilasha Bista and Mahika Rana faced defeats in the second round matches.

Rana faced a 6-0, 6-1 loss to South Korea's Sohyun Park, while Bista lost 6-0, 6-0 against Thailand's Mananchaya Sawangkaew. Both the Nepali players had earned byes in first round.

Nepal also lost in the men's doubles with Abhishek Bastola and Pradip Khadka facing a 6-2, 6-3 defeat at the hands of India's Saketh Sai Myneni and Ram Kumar Ramanathan.

In taekwondo, Prem Bahadur Limbu lost against King Patrick Perez of the Philippines in the men's singles poomsae quarter-finals. Perez accumulated 106.1 points, while Limbu earned 99.6 points. Limbu had made it to the last eight with a win over Pakistan's Aqdus Ullah Qadeer.

In the round of 16 clash, Limbu accumulated 102.3 points, while Qadeer gor 101 points.

In women's individual poomsae, Swastika Tamang faced defeat against Singapore's Aqidah Binte Muhammad Dia Diyanah. Tamang accumulated 101.3 points, while Diyanah earned 105.8 points.

In boxing, three Nepali players - Sangita Sunar, Minu Gurung and Deepak Shrestha - faced identical 5-0 defeats in their first bouts. Sunar lost to Vietnam's Thi Linh Ha in the round of 32 clash of women's 57-60kg section, while Gurung went down to Japan's Rinka Kinoshita in the round of 16 bout in women's 50-54kg section.

Likewise, Shrestha faced defeat at the hands of Uzbekistan's Turabek Khabibullaev in the men's 71-80kg section round of 32 bout.

In esports, Sameer Gurung faced a 2-1 defeat against in qualification match Hang Sam Tong of Macao, while the Nepali team went down 2-0 at the hands of Thailand in team event. Likewise, Nepali women's handball team suffered a 57-10 loss against China in the preliminary round match.

In wushu, Nepal's Bijaya Sinjali finished seventh in the Changquan after he earned 9.703 points. Sabita Rai came 14th in the Taijiquan and Taijijan All-Round event with the score of 8.623 points.

Four Nepali wushuka lost their bouts on Sunday. Iran's Samiroumi Elaheh Mansoryan beat Elina Chaudhary in women's 52kg weight category.

Kyrgyzstan's Amanbekov Avazbek defeated Rohit Chunaro in men's 56kg, Mangal Prasad Tharu lost to Askat Omurzakov in men's 60kg, and Phonh Saibounpheng of Laos outplayed Padam Rai in men's 70kg section.

In swimming, Alexander Gadegaard Shah finished eighth in the men's 100m freestyle heats. Shah finished the event in 54.14 seconds to remain last in the Heat 3. He had set the national record of 52.94 seconds in the World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan earlier this year. Shah will take part in 50m freestyle heats on Monday.

In Rugby Sevens, Nepal crashed out after facing defeats in all three Group D matches. Nepal scored seven goals against UAE's 55 in the first match, while they failed to score against China (65-0) and Afghanistan (41-0).

In judo, Vikash BK won a bout, while three others faced defeats in their first attempts. BK defeated Cambodia's Volodymyr Guchkov by Ippon Golden score in the men's 60kg weight category bout that lasted for six minutes and eight seconds. BK, however, faced defeat at the hands of Turkmenistan's Aybek Omirov in the round of 16 clash. Omirov earned Ippon in less than three minutes.

Debaki Maya Shrestha and Indra Bahadur Shrestha could not stay at the mat even for a minute against their opponents. Debaki lost in 49 seconds against Mongolia's Sosorbaram Lkhagvasuren in the women's 52kg weight category, while Hong Kong's Martin Lau defeated Indra in 53 seconds in the men's 66kg bout.

A version of this article appears in the print on September 24, 2023, of The Himalayan Times