Himalayan News Service

Lalitpur, July 17:

Hira Bahadur Thapa, Suresh Gurung and Anil Singh claimed the top three spots in Men’s Open section at the Open Squash Tournament organised by Nepal Squash Rackets Association

to mark the 59th birthday of King Gyanendra. Bhavana Sunuwar finished first while Krishna Thapa and Chhitij Gurung came second and third in Ladies’ Open. In Men’s Masters’ section, Sudeep Bahadur Singh, Ajay Keshar Simha and Dilip Narsingh Adhikari grabbed the top three positions whereas Gyanu Chaudhari, Ken Ward and Binit Shrestha did so in Men’s Novice section. Digvijay Singh won the U-14 Boys’ title while Prabeen Gurung and Amrit Thapa came second and third respectively. Ananta Simha, Prem Singh and Gaurav Katwal claimed the top three spots in the Plate final.

B’day Cup tennis

LALITPUR: Saloni Lama outplayed Akanshya Lama 9-1 and Saloni Pandey beat Sija Karki by the same margin and advanced to the Under-14 Girls’ final at the King’s Birthday Cup Tennis Tournament. In U-14 Boys’ section, Neeraj Wagle beat Akshay Dixit 9-5, Milan Thapa beat Sandesh Sinha 9-8 and Shree Ram Gyawali beat Nil Pandey 9-0 and entered the quarter-finals. In veterans’ doubles, Krishna Ghale and Suvarna Dhakwa; Chhambha Dhon-dup and Sanu Gurung; Chandra Shahi and Soviet Man Shrestha; and Amrit Kansakar and Karma Gurung advanced. In women’s singles, Kalpana Thapa Magar overwhelmed Sonal 6-3, 6-2; Shivani Pandey defeated Kanchan Thapa Magar 6-2, 6-1; Renu Bajracharya outplayed Binu Suwal 6-1, 6-3; and Preeti Rijal beat Saloni Pandey 6-0, 6-2 and entered the second round.

Shree Ram beat Mahesh Shahi 6-1, 6-3; Wang Yi beat Niresh Shrestha 6-4, 6-1; Sandeep Tamrakar beat Binay Tuladhar 6-3, 6-4; Ramesh Karki beat Raju Shrestha 6-2, 4-6, 6-2; Kumar Adhikari beat Rajendra 6-2, 6-1; Kamal Rajbhandari beat Man Bahadur Katuwal 6-2, 6-0; and Dawa Sonam beat Santosh Khatri 6-4, 6-4 in Men’s Singles.

In men’s doubles, Manoj Rana and Shree Ram Thapa; and Utsav Rizal and Dawa Sonam advanced. Raju Shrestha beat Bijay Rai 6-1, 6-0; Kamal Thapa beat Raju Gurung 6-1, 6-0; Subha Ratna beat Lim 6-2, 6-2; Chandra Shahi beat Karma Gurung 6-1, 3-6, 6-0; Soviet Man beat Wang Yi 6-1, 6-2; Uttam Lama beat Jeevan Ghimire 6-3, 6-0; and Dharma Ratna Shahi beat Harbinder Singh 6-3, 6-4 to advance in veterans’ singles. Rajesh Chhetri and Kalpana Thapa Magar beat G Shrestha and Neeraj Thapa 11-2 in mixed doubles.