Kathmandu, February 25 Nepal finished the 12th South Asian Games on a low with just three gold medals and athletics was one of the most disappointing disciplines. Out of the 27 events participated in track and field, Nepal ended up with a lone medal. Hari Kumar Rimal saved Nepal from being empty-handed when he won bronze in 5,000m race, but the long-distance runners returned without a medal for the first time in the history of regional games. Rimal finished the race in personal best time of 14 minutes and 32.18 seconds, which was one of the two records shattered by the Nepali athletes in Guwahati. Women’s 4X400m relay team also broke national record. Except for these two events, Nepali athletes were way behind the regional opponents — both in track and field events. They were nowhere near the medal mark. Nepal had not expected big in athletics except for marathon, the event dominated by Nepali athletes in the South Asian Games. But the long distance runners — who were tipped to win gold in men’s section and medal in women’s category — even failed to complete the 42.195km distance within their personal best time. Bhumi Raj Rai finished the race in two hours, 32 minutes and 21 seconds — almost eight minutes behind his personal mark. The Nepal APF Club athlete Rai was more than 17 minutes behind gold medal winner Nitendra Singh Rawat (2:15:18) of India and silver medallist Cooray Anuradha Indra (2:15:19) of Sri Lanka. Even if he had finished the race in his personal best of 2:24:32, Rai would not have been able to win medal as third-placed India’s Kheta Ram completed the race in 2:21:14. Rai was fifth, while another Nepali athlete Khim Bahadur Khatri was sixth among 10 participants. Nepali had a rich history in marathon with a total of five gold, four silver and five bronze medals. Baikuntha Manandhar won gold medals in the first three editions and he also holds the South Asian record of 2:15:03 set during the third SAF Games in Calcutta in 1987. Bhandari won gold in the previous edition in Dhaka although the organisers later changed that to Road Race because of mistake in course measurement. The performance in women’s section was more pathetic. Sworupa Khadka, who came from the USA to participate in the Games, finished with the worst performance of her career, while another athlete Pushpa Bhandari pulled out after 10 kilometres due to problems in her muscles. Khadka came in three hours, 12 minutes and 01 seconds, which was more than 33 minutes behind gold medal winner Kavitha Raut of India and around 20 minutes behind third-placed athlete BGL Anuradhi of Sri Lanka. Lone medallist Rimal said Nepali athletes were weak in South Asia and it was high time to change training technique. “We have been following same pattern of training for the last 10 years. If we don’t act now and adopt modern training technique, we will be the worst team,” he said. Chief coach Sushil Narshing Rana said the disciplinary issue was the key to success and Nepali athletes lacked in that front. “The main problem with our athletes is lack of discipline. The players don’t follow coach’s instructions and the coaches are also not equipped with adequate power to punish those athletes,” Rana said. Rana said the athletes were building a tendency of not trusting coaches and do as per their wish. “We did not have high expectations in the SA Games. We had gone to India not to beat the best athletes of the region and win handful of gold medals, instead we expected a bit of charisma from a couple of players and medals from long distance athletes. But we faced worst result and that is not acceptable,” he said. “I have been in this field for more than 35 years. I know what is right or wrong. But I am not allowed to take a technical decision or punish a player,” he said. “We need to overcome this problem, if we are to succeed in future.”