Colombo, August 27 :

Arjun Kumar Basnet won the silver medal in marathon at the 10th South Asian Games here this morning. He finished the race in 2 hours 28 minutes and 10 seconds behind Sri Lanka’s AM Ajith Bandara, who clinched gold in 2:25:40. L Binning of India was third at 2:29:16.

Basnet and Sri Lankan Bandara were running neck-to-neck but with six kilometres remaining, Bandara broke away to finish first. After finishing the race, Basnet fell unconscious on ground and was taken to the medical centre, where he was injected saline water.

According to Jeewan Ram Shrestha, member secretary of National Sports Council and chef-de-mission of the Nepali delegation in Colombo, Basnet was in normal condition. “He suffered due to dehydration, and he is fine now,” he said.

Arjun Dhakal of Nepal finished fourth in marathon with the timings of 2:36:50. Other five runners from India, Pakistan, Bhutan and Sri Lanka did not finish the race.

Volleyball :

Nepali women’s volleyball team claimed the bronze medal with a 25-17, 25-19, 16-25, 25-23 win over Maldives this morning.

After winning the first two sets, the Nepali players got carried away and lost the third. The Maldives players tried their best to return into the match in the fourth set and gave a tough time to the Nepali players. At one stage, Nepal was 17-14 ahead, but Maldives fought back and almost drew level. At 23-all, skipper Anju Shrestha won a point through a brilliant spike and Nepal ultimately won the match 25-23.

“We won the medal just because of our fighting spirit as our training period was very short for such an international tournament,” said coach Sudesh Rimal. “The overall performance of the Nepali team was brilliant as they gave a tough fight against India and Sri Lanka,” he added.

Skipper Anju Shrestha was more than happy to win the second bronze medal of her career in the South Asian region. She was also the member of Nepali team that won bronze in the eighth SAF Games in 1999.

Judo :

Ranju Rai of Nepal won silver medal at the women’s 48-kg section judo competition here at the St Thomas College today.

India’s Chanu A Anita won the gold, while Sri Lankan Niluka Idamawatta and Pakistan’s Bibi Zara got the bronze.

Radha Devi Rai (48kg), Devendra Karmacharya (60kg) and Subrat Shrestha (60kg) won bronze medals in Judo here today. Radha Devi accumulated a total of 27 points, while India’s Laishram Bembem Devi won gold with 50 points and Sri Lankan Chamila Wijeratne clinched silver with 35 points.

In 60kg section, Karmacharya finished joint third along with Shree Milton Amjumde of Bangladesh. India’s Navjot Chana won gold and Pakistan’s Waris Ali came second.

In the 66kg section, Subrat Shrestha earned 15 points and came third along with Pakistan’s Muhammad Zeesha Butt. Parvinder Singh of India and Md Habibur Rahman of Bangladesh won gold and silver respectively.