Morang, December 28

The women’s handball match between Western Region and Central Region was disturbed time and against after animals entered the pitch here at the Tankisinuwari grounds today.

At a time when the match was in full swing, three dogs suddenly entered into the ground and umpires as well as players managed to send them out after a round of chase. Couple of minutes later, a calf entered the pitch and the match was interrupted for the second time. This time the players got scared after seeing the calf all of a sudden.

The venue for the women’s handball tournament is open and anyone can enter and interrupt the match. “As we were under pressure against Western, the incidents made us more uncomfortable. The management is so poor that anything can happen here. They could have at least have a fence,” said Central Region’s skipper PurnimaKarki. Western won the match by 23-4.

Nepal Handball Association President TejBahadurGurung said there were many lapses from the management team of the National Games. “We have been trying to make the best use of the available infrastructure. Since, it is an open place rather than a ground, we cannot expect much over here,” he added.

Men’s football

APF Club entered the men’s football tournament final defeating Nepal Police Club 2-0 at the ANFA Technical Centre grounds in Dharan on Wednesday. The match went to extra time after both the teams failed to score in the regulation period. YuvarajKhadka and Nabin Lama were the scorers for APF. Meanwhile, the second semi-final match between Tribhuvan Army Club and Central Region was postponed for Thursday due to bad light. Both the teams played a goalless draw in regulation and extra time and the poor light prevented the teams from the penalty shootout. The tie breaker will be conducted on Thursday.

Men’s Cricket

Nepal APF Club defeated TAC by 28 runs to enter the men’s cricket tournament semi-finals as Group A winners at the Baijnathpur grounds in Morang on Wednesday. Despite the defeat, TAC finished as runners-up and secured a place in the last four. Batting first, APF scored 165-4 with PradeepAiree scoring the highest 47 runs. In reply, TAC were packed for 137 runs in 17.5 overs despite Sagar Pun and NareshBudhayer scoring 46 runs each. APF won all three matches, while TAC won two. Similarly, Nepal Police Club and Central Region entered the semis from Group B with the former finishing at the top of the table. NPC and Central accumulated four points along with Western and the latter finished third on inferior net run rate. In Wednesday’s last group match, Central defeated NPC by nine runs. Batting first, Central were bowled out for 120 in 20 overs and packed NPC to 111 in 19.4 overs.

Squash

BhawanaSunuwar of Central Region and BipanaBlon of Tribhuvan Army Club advanced to the women’s singles final of the Squash tournament under the seventh National Games in Lalitpur on Wednesday. Bhawana defeated TAC’s SwasthaniShrestha and Bipana outplayed Krishna Thapa of TAC with identical scores of 3-0. In men’s section, ArhantKeshar Singh of TAC defeated NPC’s Kashi Ram Bhandari 3-0, TAC’s AmritThapaMagar beat Sugam Tulsan 3-0, and BinodRatnaShakya edged past PrajjwalPrakashPradhan 3-1 in all-Central match to enter the semi-finals.

Fencing

Indira Paudel of Tribhuvan Army Club won the women’s Individual Epee gold medal in the second National Fencing Championship under the seventh National Games at the National Sports Council covered hall in Kathmandu on Wednesday. Paudel’s teammate AnjanaShrestha bagged silver, while Western Region’s Rakhi Sharma and TAC’s RabinaDhimal won bronze medals. In men’s section, Jung Giri of Nepal APF Club won gold medal, while his teammate RajendraShrestha bagged silver. Central Region’s SudhirajYakha and Omkar Singh won bronze medals. A total of 97 players from four teams are taking part in the three-day tournament. Earlier, Nepal Olympic Committee President Jeevan Ram Shrestha inaugurated the tournament.

Basketball

TAC claimed men’s section gold medal in basketball tournament in Dharan on Wednesday. TAC defeated Eastern 83-70 to win the competition. The departmental team claimed first quarter 24-16 but went down by 22-19 in the second quarter. However, TAC dominated remaining quarters by winning 20-15 and 20-17.

Kabbadi

TAC won two gold medals in the kabaddi events at Tankisinuwari in Morang. In the men’s final, TAC defeated Central Region 47-30. Western and APF received bronze medals in the category. Similarly, TAC saw off NPC 24-22 in the women’s final to win the gold medal. Far-western and Central bagged bronze medals.

Weightlifting

Tribhuvan Army Club’s PukarGurung set the new national record in the men’s above-105kg weight category of weightlifting tournament  inSaptari on Wednesday. Gurung lifted 124kg in snatch to better his previous record of 123kg that he had set during the Asian Championship held in Thailand last year. Gurung lifted a total of 259kg weight, including 135kg in clean and jerk. Central’s Rajiv Maharjan won silver medal with a lift of 203kg, including 113kg snatch and 203 in clean and jerk. Far-western’s SubashUpadhyay grabbed bronze by lifting 201kg that included 91kg snatch and 110 in clean and jerk. Similarly, NPC’s Gagan Chand won gold in the 105kg weight category with a total lift of 214kg. He lifted 96kg in snatch and 118kg in clean and jerk. His clubmateBipendraMaharjan lifted 96 in snatch and 117kg in clean and jerk to bag silver and Ashik Husain of Central won bronze as he lifted 90kg in snatch and 108kg in clean and jerk.

Medal tally

Team

Gold

Silver

Bronze

Total

TAC

102

58

43

203

NPC

40

34

38

112

APF

36

33

54

123

Central

23

42

50

115

Mid-western

7

14

41

62

Western

6

19

33

58

Eastern

6

13

44

63

Far-western

4

11

50

65