Sunsari, December 26 Sima Kumari Chaudhary of Far-western Region, who competed on barefoot, bagged bronze medal in the women’s 800m here at the Itahari Stadium today. The-15-year-old Chaudhary became first athlete to win medal for Far-western Region on the third day of the athletics competition under the seventh National Games that officially kicked off in Biratnagar on Friday. Chaudhary finished third with a timing of two minutes and 31.62 seconds, finishing behind Tribhuvan Army Club’s Saraswati Bhattarai (two minutes and 19.42 seconds) and Sanu Maya Karki (two minutes and 25.60 seconds). A total of eight players had qualified for the finals from yesterday’s heats. Chaudhary had finished third in the heats. “I am delighted to win the first medal for Far-western Region after the team remained without a medal in athletics for a couple of days,” said Chaudhary, who hails from Tikapur, Kailali. Chaudhary competed in the sporting extravagnza under self training and without much knowledge about the techniques of the game. However, she was confident of winning medal. “Since I had won gold medal in junior event, I was hopeful of winning the medal in this meet as well,” added elated Chaudhary. “I competed in the event without having proper training. I participated in the regional selection tournament in Dhangadhi and returned home. I trained myself a little bit as there were no coach to guide me,” said Chaudhary. “I was not aware about the techniques but used to analyse myself about how to win races,” she added. Sudha Thapa, athletics team manager of Far-western Region, said she was hoping for Chaudhary to shine for her team. “At a time when the team failed to win a single medal on the first two days and athletes returning with frustrating results, Chaudhary gave us a moment of happiness with the maiden medal. Winning medal on barefoot, without proper training and coaches is the biggest thing for the region,” said Thapa. “We could have won more medals if we had a proper closed camp training and coaches to guide our players.”