POKHARA, OCTOBER 19
Gandaki Province won team championship in archery under the Ninth National Games here today.
Gandaki claimed seven gold, four silver and one bronze medal in the championship that featured 13 events. Tribhuvan Army Club finished second with three gold, one silver and five bronze medals, while Nepal APF Club came third with two gold and three each silver and bronze medals.
Nepal Police Club won one each gold and bronze medals along with two silvers, while Province-I bagged two silvers. Sudurpashchim won one silver and two bronze medals, while Bagmati bagged a bronze medal. Lumbini and NRNA returned empty handed.
On the final day, Gandaki's Ganga Bahadur Kunwar won men's individual recurve gold medal with a 7-1 victory over NPC's Tilak Pun. Birat Thapa finished third in the event. In women's section, Gandaki archer Rojina Thapa beat TAC's Manju Bajgain 6-2 to win gold medal, while Gyanu Awale came third.
In men's individual compound event, Jagrit Gurung defeated Khem Bahadur Chhetry 144-142 in all-Gandaki final. Suresh Gurung of Sudurpaschim came third. In women's section, TAC's Emayung Rai upset top-ranked Parshad Acharya of APF 136-130 to win gold medal. Nirmala Kanwang Rai came third.
In men's individual standard event, second-ranked Nagendra Acharya of NPC recorded a 6-5 victory over top-ranked Durga Gharti Magar of Gandaki in the final.
Farmachan Shechan of Bagmati finished third. In women's section, APF's Sonu Jaya Rai won gold medal with a 6-4 victory over Yogita Kanwang of Province-I. TAC archer Sharada BK finished third.
Taekwondo
Nepal Police Club won team championship under the Ninth National Games in Beni, Myagdi. NPC claimed 11 gold, four silver and one bronze medals.
Tribhuvan Army Club finished second with seven gold, eight silver and two bronze medals, while Nepal APF Club came third with three gold, two silver and nine bronze medals.
Madhesh Province claimed one gold, two silver and five bronze medals, while Lumbini bagged two silver and four bronze medals and Bagmati claimed one silver and three bronze medals. Likewise, Sudurpashchim and NRNA won one silver each.
Province-I, Gandaki and Karnali won eight, seven and three bronze medals respectively.
Tennis
Gandaki Province won gold medal in men's doubles.
Pradeep Khadka and Anil Shahi of Gandaki defeated Tribhuvan Army Club's Pranav Khanal and Aki Juben Rawat in competitive final. Gandaki took lead with a 7-5 win before TAC levelled the scores with a 6-4 victory. In the deciding final set, Gandaki defeated TAC 10-8. Earlier, Gandaki won team event gold medal.
Soft Tennis
Ukesh Yonjan and Shreya Yonjan of Province-I won the mixed doubles gold medal. They defeated Bagmati Province duo Pradeep Khatri and Georgia Chaudhary 5-2 in final. Kamal Bhandari and Bishna Bhandari of Nepal Police Club and Harak Singh Dhami and Bhagawati BK of APF finished third. On Tuesday, NPC duo Nara Bahadur Lungeli and Kamal- Bhandari won men's doubles gold, while Bhagawati BK and Samriddhi Maharjan of APF bagged women's doubles gold.
Rugby
Nepal APF Club and Tribhuvan Army Club won gold medals in rugby. APF defeated Lumbini 10-7 in men's section final at the Bhandardhik grounds in Lekhnath. Gandaki beat TAC 10-5 to finish third. In women's section, TAC outplayed Madhesh Province 10-0. Sudurpashchim Province beat Madhesh Province 5-0 to win bronze medal.
Hockey
Tribhuvan Army Club won gold medal in women's hockey. TAC defeated Gandaki Province 3-0 in tie-breaker in the final match. Sita Kumari Chaudhary, Saraswoti Tamang and Sita Maya Bal scored for TAC in penalty shootout.
The match was decided on penalties after a 1-1 draw in regulation period.
Saraswoti Tamang put TAC ahead in the ninth minute before Sabina Pun levelled the scores for Gandaki two minutes later. Earlier, Sudurpashchim recorded a 2-0 victory over Province-I to finish third. Nilam Joshi and Dambara Thapa scored for Sudurpashchim.
Triathlon
Tribhuvan Army Club's Basant Tharu and Nepal APF Club's Sony Gurung won gold medals in triathlon.
Basant Tharu of TAC finished first in men's section.
Tharu finished the 20k cycling, 750m swimming and 5km running in one hour, nine minutes and 43 seconds. Another TAC athlete Dipesh Chaudhary came second in 1:10:05, while Nepal Police Club's Maulik Maharjan finished third in 1:14:56. In women's section, Gurung finished first in one hour, 16 minutes and 28 seconds. Shriwi Maharan of NPC came second in 1:19:15, while TAC's Keshari Thapa was third 1:32:29.
Table Tennis
Nepal Police Club won the team championship in table tennis. NPC claimed six gold, two silver and four bronze medals. Nepal APF Club came second with one each gold and bronze and four silver medals, while Bagmati finished third with one silver and two bronze medals. TAC, NRNA and Province-I bagged two bronze each, while Gandaki Province got one bronze.
Madhesh, Lumbini, Karnali and Sudurpashchim returned empty handed.
On the final day, Santoo Shrestha and Nabita Shrestha of NPC claimed gold medals in singles events. Santoo de-feated Rubin Maharjan of APF 11-8, 11-7, 11-9, 6-11, 11-6 in men's singles final.
Pradeep Roka of NPC and Samyog Kapali of APF finished joint third. In women's section, Nabita defeated Elina Maharjan 11-8, 11-6, 12- 14, 11-8, 6-11, 13-15 in all- NPC final. TAC's Rabina Maharjan and APF's Sikka Suwal finished joint third.
Cycling
Departmental teams dominated in cycling as well. Out of the eight gold medals on offer, Tribhuvan Army Club bagged four, while Nepal APF Club claimed two. Bagmati and Gandaki won one each gold medal. TAC finished with four each gold and silver along with three bronze medals, while APF earned two gold, three silver and four bronze medals. Bagmati came third with one each gold and silver, while Gandaki bagged one apiece gold and bronze.
On Wednesday, Hikmat BK won gold medal in men's Road Race. He finished the 60km race with the timing of one hour, 55 minutes and 21.015 seconds. Suraj Rana Magar of APF won silver in 1:55:21.414, while TAC's Himala Tamatta bagged bronze in 1:55:21.861.
In women's section, TAC cyclist Usha Khanal completed the 40km race in one hour, 23 minutes and 18 seconds to win gold medal. APF's Humi Budha Magar came second on 1:25:46, while TAC's Manju Kumari Khadka was third in 1:29.38.
Weightlifting
Nepal Police Club won the team championship in weightlifting. NPC claimed 12 gold and seven silver to finish first in the table, while Tribhuvan Army Club bagged four each gold and silver along with five bronze medals to finish second. Out of 20 gold medals on offer, Sudurpashchim came third with three each gold and bronze.
Nepal APF Club bagged one gold, six silver and two bronze, while Madhesh claimed one silver and seven bronze medals. Gandaki won one each silver and bronze, whereas Bagmati bagged a silver and Lumbini won two bronze medals. A total of eight lifters set new national records in the sport.
On the final day, Bidhya Rai of Nepal Police Club broke national record on her way to winning gold in the women's above-87kg weight category.
Rai set new mark in snatch with a lift of 76kg and lifted 88kg in clean and jerk for a total of 164kg. She bettered her own mark of 75kg.
Bishal Singh Bista of NPC broke national record in clean and jerk. He lifted 120kg in snatch and 161kg in clean and jerk for 281kg total in the men's 96kg weight category.
Also, NPC lifter Sandesh Gurung set new mark in snatch on his way to winning gold in men's 102kg section. He lifted 113kg in snatch and 139 in clean and jerk for 252kg total.
A version of this article appears in the print on October 20, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.
