Adhikari wins gold medal in TT

KATHMANDU: Anju Adhikari of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) claimed the women’s singles table tennis championship in the first Inter-Enterprises Sports Tournament here on Thursday.

Anju beat fellow NEA team member Rajani Baidhya three sets to one in final. Sabita Maharjan of Nepal Telecom and Sharada Bhattarai of NEA were joint third.

Nabin Bahadur Shakya and Pradeep Rajbhandari of Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) won the men’s doubles gold medal. The pair beat Telecom duo Pradeep Upadhyaya and Sanu Bhakta Shrestha 3-1. Madan Prasad Acharya and Manohar Thapa of Nepal Television (NTV) and Sharad Man Shrestha and Robin Kumar Poudel of Nepal Telecom finished joint third.

Meanwhile, the National Sports Council (NSC) entered the quarter-finals in men’s volleyball. The NSC team defeated NTV 25-9, 25-18. Joining them in the last eight were NEA ‘Red’ and Udaypur Cement Factory (UCF). NEA saw off NAC 25-14, 25-15 while UCF beat Telecom 25-19, 25-23. Telecom also advanced despite the loss.

In chess, Bikash Man Lama of NEA, Madan Bahadur Singh Dangol of Nepal Bank and Suman Kumar Vaidhya of NAC shared the lead with three points each. Bikash beat Asta Narayan Maharjan of Nepal Bank and Krishna Raj Khanal of Gorkhapatra Sansthan in the second and third round matches.

Likewise, Madan defeated Bharat Dangol of Janak Sikshhya and Raju Nath Khanal of Nepal Bank in the second and third rounds. Suman earned points against both Bina Haritha Shrestha of Janak Sikshhay and Govinda Khadka of Telecom.

The NEA duo of Triratna Shakya and Dev Narayan Khanal are next with 2.5 points while Krishna Raj Khanal, Raju Nath Khanal, Narendra Sijapati and Purna Sundar Shrestha are one point off the leaders.