Three Star enter semis

DHARAN: Santosh Sahukhala scored a solitary goal as Nabil Three Star Club defeated Emphal West District Football Association of Manipur 1-0 to enter the semi-finals of the 11th International Invitational Budha Subba Tuborg Gold Cup Football Tournament here at the Dharan Stadium today. Three Star were supposed to face Sikkim Sports Club in the quarter-finals but the team could not arrive because of the Gorkha Land movement and the organisers invited Manipur team. Sahukhala scored the winner in the dying moments and also earned the man of the match award. On Saturday, Tribhuvan Army Club will take on ANFA Academy Under-19 team in the last quarter-final match. — HNS

Four players share lead

KATHMANDU: Four players Monalisa Khambu, Shanta Thapa, Asmita Adhikari and Manita Kusi shared the lead at the first National Women’s Chess Championship. On Friday, the 15th Asiad participant Khambu defeated Purnima Jaiswal and Samikshya Gautam in the second and third matches respectively to accumulate three points. Shanta beat Alisha Dhakal and Suman Dura, while Asmita outplayed Ranju Bhatta and Bishaikha Jaiswal. Also, Manita overcame Ratna Sharma and Sangita Jaiswal. Tara Ghale is in the second position with 2.5 points after she defeated Binita Kapali in the third round. Likewise, Samikshya Gautam, Suman Dura, Rajani Shrestha, Alisha Dhakal, Bishaikha Jaiswal, Sangita Jaiswal, Bina Jaiswal, Purnima Jaiswal, Santoshi Shah, Sakuntala Lama, Sony Sharma and Sindira Joshi have two points apiece. The fourth and fifth round will be held on Saturday. — HNS

Shobukan body formed

KATHMANDU: A group of karate players and officials have formed a new karate Association, Nepal Shito-Ryu Shobukan Karate Association, under the presidentship of Rajesh Bhakta Shrestha. Vishnu Bahadur Karki is the secretary, while Pritam Lal Shrestha the Treasurer. Kiran Prakash Pandey, Saral SJB Rana, Fakre Shah, Raju Adhikary, Sajan Shrestha and Sangha Ratna Maharjan are the members of the committee. The founder of the new karate, Grand Master Hiromasa Tanaka — who is popularly known as Hark Bahadur among karate fraternity in Nepal — is here to recognise the new association. “The new karate is no different to the Shito-Ryu,” said the Japanese through interpreter. Other three Japanese officials — Takeshia Matsuoka, Noboru Ogawa and Kenjiro Ueda — have accompanied Tanaka, who is here for the 18th time in 15 years. Chief Coach and member Sangha Ratna Maharjan said the association was under the registration process at the National Sports Council. “As we want to develop the sport, we hope the sports governing body would take us positively and give us affiliation,” he added. “We have come forward to clean up karate, which is not taken positively these days due to some selfish officials, and we want to open a karate school here,” added Maharjan. The association has planned to announce the new association on Sunday. — HNS

Unique lift trophy

KATHMANDU: Unique Academy defeated Trungram International Academy 55-43 to win the senior boys’ section trophy at the eighth Gyan Niketan Inter-school Basketball Tournament here on Friday. Manish Tamang of Unique top scored in the match with 22 points. In the senior girls’ final, Kantipur defeated Valley Public 28-26 riding on Ronahi Limbu’s 14 points, while the hosts clinched the junior boys’ title with a 41-28 win over Puspa Sadan riding on Rohit Raj Khanal’s 15 points. Manish Tamang of Unique (senior boys), Samikshin Bista of Valley Public (senior girls) and Umanga Malakar of Puspa Sadan (junior boys) were named the Most Valuable Players of the tournament. Rohit Raj Khanal (90), Mohan Limbu of TIA (108) and Ronahi Limbu (68) were the top scorers of the tournament. President of Nepal Basketball Association Lama Tendi Sherpa and vice president Narendra Thapa gave away prizes to the winners. — HNS

Ski team to go to India

KATHMANDU: A 12-member Nepali ski team is on Sunday leaving for India to participate in the Ski Coaching Camp to be held in Auli from February 20 to March 4. The four female players selected for the training camp are Sylvia Shrestha, Anisha Karmacharya, Nirmala Lama and Rama Acharya. The five male players are Ravi Balami, Raju Maharjan, Prabin Karmacharya, Madhu Sudan Bista and Dinesh Sangit Gurung. Pujan Acharya, member of Nepal Ski Association (NSA) and the member of the first Inclusive Women’s Mt Everest Expedition Team, is the coach, while Vinay Shrestha is coach-cum-manager. Yam Bahadur Bam is the coordinator of the team. After the training, the team is slated to take part in the Ski Carnival in India, informed President of NSA Jeevan Ram Shrestha, who is also the Member Secretary of National Sports Council and General Secretary of Nepal Olympic Committee. The camp is part of Nepal’s participation in the South Asian Winter Games to be held in December. NOC President Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan among others bade farewell to the team. — HNS

Sushant wins two golds

KATHMANDU: Sushant Modak of Mt Gauri won two gold medals on the opening day of the sixth VS Niketan Karate Tournament here on Friday. Sushant bagged gold medals in the 25kg section and individual kata. Chandra Karki of Oxford defeated Kamal Lama of Mt Gauri to win the 20kg section gold, while Sujan Lama clinched the 30kg section gold. In girls’ individual kata, Krisha Sherpa of Oxford came first, while VS Niketan won the team kata gold. Nepal Olympic Committee President Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan inaugurated the two-day event. — HNS

DSTC honour sponsors

KATHMANDU: Dhorpatan Sports Training Club (DSTC) felicitated President of The Gorkhas Group and Prakash Pun Magar and vice president Tika Devi Gurung here at a ceremony on Friday. National Sports Council Member Secretary Jeevan Ram Shrestha handed over the felicitation letters and token of love on behalf of the club. The Gorkhas Group had provided the cash of Rs 120,000 to the club to conduct the third Dhorpatan Blue Sky Cup Women’s

Double League Volleyball Championship last month, informed President of the Club Manbir Chhantyal. Nepal Volleyball Association president Ganga Bahadur Thapa Magar, NSC member Bijay Rai, coach Shanti Gurung, national team skipper Bharat Shah among others were also present on the occasion. Meanwhile, the club also announced the fourth edition of the championship with eight teams. The top three will receive Rs 60,000, Rs 40,000 and Rs 25,000 respectively, said Chhantyal. — HNS