KATHMANDU, OCTOBER 4

Nepal women's kabaddi team advanced to the semi-finals, thanks to Iran's 54-16 victory over Bangladesh in the final Group B match of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou today.

Nepal, who were not in action today, finished as runners-up behind Iran, who recorded their second straight victory. Nepal - who beat Bangladesh 37-24 in their Asian Games debut match on Monday - faced a 43-19 loss to Iran yesterday.

Nepal will now face Group A winners India, while Iran will take on Group A runners-up Chinese Taipei in semi-final matches on Friday.

All four teams are assured of medals as the two losing semi-finalists will get bronze each.

None of the Nepali players or teams could record a victory on Wednesday, with athlete Gopi Chandra Parki being an exception as he returned with a personal best time in the men's 5,000m race. Parki completed the race in 14 minutes and 22.15 seconds and he finished 11th out of 18 athletes at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium. He won a gold medal in the 13th South Asian Games in 2019 with the timing of 14:54.20, his previous best mark in the event.

On Tuesday, Rajpura Pachai had improved her personal best time in the women's 5,000m race finishing the distance in 17 minutes and 05.34 seconds.

Asian Cross Country Championship gold medal winner Deepak Adhikari is the lone Nepali player to break a national record in the Asian Games so far. He set the new record of 29 minutes and 35.06 seconds in the men's 10,000m race, breaking the Parki's mark of 30:30.99 set during the 2014 Incheon Asian Games.

On Thursday, Rajan Rokaya and Pushpa Bhandari are scheduled to take part in marathon races.

In badminton, Nepal's Rashila Maharjan lost in the women's singles Round of 16 match. She faced a 21-10, 21-4 defeat at the hands of China's Bingjiao He. Maharjan had made it to the pre-quarters with a win over Mongolia on Tuesday. The pair of Bishnu Katuwal and Nangsal Tamang lost to China in mixed doubles, while the men's doubles team of Katuwal and Jivan Acharya faced defeat against Singapore.

In women's volleyball, Nepal faced a 3-1 defeat against India in the classification match. Nepal, who lost to Vietnam and South Korea in the group stage matches to crash out early, went down 25-23, 26-28, 25-23, 25-17 loss against India in Classification Pool G match. Nepal will play two more matches for 9-12 rankings.

A version of this article appears in the print on October 5, 2023, of The Himalayan Times