Boxing

Dhaka: Laxman Raut is assured of at least a bronze medal in boxing after he earned a bye in the 51kg quarter-final bout here on Friday. Laxman will play his semi-final bout on Sunday.

Meanwhile, drawn directly in the last eight, boxer Sachin Raut lost his first bout against Mohammad Aref Aref of Afghanistan in the 48kg category. Sachin lost the bout on Referee Stopped Contest (RSC) under Compulsory Count Limit (CCL) while trailing 0-3 in the final round.

Devendra Raj Singh Thakuri (54kg) will take on a Bangladeshi opponent, Dinesh Shrestha (57kg) will face Sri Lankan, Ajit Gurung (60kg) play against Bhutanese and Sushil Ghimire (64kg) will take on Sri Lankan opponent on Saturday.

Swimming

DHAKA: All five Nepali swimmers finished bottom of the table in the four swimming events they participated here on Friday. In the eight-man 200m Individual Medley Sailesh Rana finished eighth in 2minutes, 35.47seconds. The fifth National Games record holder Karishma Karki ended up eighth with the timing of 37.00 seconds in women's 50m butterfly.

Karki had won a record 12 gold medals during a single meet at the fifth National Games in Kathmandu. Meanwhile, Bibidha Rimal (41.77) and the veteran Nayana Shakya (42.36) finished seventh and eighth in the women's 50m breaststroke; and Prasiddha Jung Shah also followed the suits of his compatriot finishing eighth in 43.03 seconds.

Earlier, Sailesh Rana qualified

for the 200m Individual Medley finals but failed to make it through to the 100m freestyle finals. Likewise, Karishma, Nayana and Bibidha and Prasiddha all had progressed from their respective heats.

Taekwondo

DHAKA: Manita Shahi has been drawn directly in taekwondo semi-finals of the women's 57kg category here on Friday. The 10th South Asian Games gold medallist will meet the winner of the match between Bangladesh and Pakistan on Monday. On Saturday, Kumar Manandhar will take on Md Shah Alam of Bangladesh in the men's 63kg category, Ashish Maharjan will meet Rehmad Jan of Pakistan in the 68kg category, Ayesha Shakya will face a Pakistani opponent in the women's 53kg and Yan Kumari Chaulagain will meet Sabina Sundas of India in the 46kg category. Deepak Bista, who is eying for the fourth straight gold medal, will play against a Bangladeshi opponent on Saturday.

Basketball

DHAKA: Nepal came agonizingly close to claiming their first silverware before losing to Bangladesh 75-62 in a tight match on Friday. Nepal had beaten Bangladesh en route to the semi-final journey where they lost to Afghanistan. Nepal faced the hosts again in the bronze medal decider but failed to repeat the win.

Golf

DHAKA: Amateur golfer Rupak Acharya fell further back, slipping to 15th place after the third round on Friday. Rupak carded a disappointing nine-over 81 for a total of 15-over 231. Bishnu Prasad Sharma produced the day’s best card among the Nepali golfers with six-over 78. Tashi Tsering shot nine-over 81 and Tashi Ghale scored 11-over 83. The Nepali team finished fifth in the 36-hole team event on Thursday.

Squash

DHAKA: Nepal suffered yet another straight-set loss against India in the Men's Squash Team Event on Friday. The men's team of Sudip Bahadur Shahi, Suresh Gurung and Tak Kumar Tilija all lost their matches against the favourites India. In the first match, Sudip Bahadur Shahi lost to Gaurav 5-11, 3-11, 0-11 and Suresh Gurung went down 2-11, 4-11, 0-11 against Bikash Rana. Tak Kumar also surrendered timidly to Sudeep Janga 2-11, 3-11, 3-11. Nepal will play Bangladesh in their last league match.