Umpiring course

KATHMANDU: Jai Kumar Nath Shah, president of Cricket Association of Nepal, inaugurated the Umpiring Course under the ACC Development Programme, today. In all, 20 umpires are taking part in the five-day Beginners Umpiring Course, being conducted by ACC Umpiring Course director Peter Manuel. The Advance Umpiring Refresher Course will be held on April 23 and 24 for senior umpires and scorers. — HNS

SAF medallists feted

LALITPUR: SAF Gold medallist Deepak Shrestha and bronze medallist Rabi Maharjan were awarded cash prizes at a programme in Lalitpur Karate Federation. Former minister of Youth, Sports and Culture and former president of Karate Federation Sharat Singh Bhandari handed over Rs 1,20,000 to the winners. The contributors include Karate Federation, Fishtail Air, sports officials, District Administration Office, District Development Committee, Central Region Black Belt Committee, Sambridhi Construction Company and others. — HNS

Govt grants land

KATHMANDU: The Government has granted land to construct Asian Central Cricket Academy at Mulpani VDC in Kathmandu. According to Cricket Association of Nepal, ICC nominated Australian Ross Tumer and his team has been busy preparing the map for the academy. Former Test player and architect Graeme Watson and Peter Hanlon are other members of the team. CAN also informed the construction work would start as soon as the ACC approve the map. Earlier, a thre-member team under the leadership of Tumer had inspected the site and given the go-a-head signal to ACC. — HNS

Players depart

KATHMANDU: National badminton players — Balram Thapa, Pashupati Paneru and Sumina Shrestha — left for Kuala Lumpur to take part in the Yonex Sunrise Asian Badminton Competition to be held from April 20-25. Vice president of National Badminton Association (NBA), Prakash Bahadur Shahi (team leader), Megh Raj Kayastha (coach) and secretary of NBA Ramji Bahadur Shrestha (team manager) are the offcials with the team. Shahi will also represent Nepal in the Annual General Assembly of the Asian Badminton Federation. — HNS

Bista Dhaka-bound

KATHMANDU: Mahesh Bista today left for Dhaka to officiate the match Chakra Bangladesh and Al Sab Ev of Yamen of the AFC Cup 2004 after the ANFA senior vice president was nominated by the AFC as the match commissioner. According to ANFA, the Group A match No 7 will be held on April 20 under the auspices of Bangladesh Football Association. — HNS

Match washed out

BHAKTAPUR: Nest Club of Bhaktapur and Rudramati United Cricket Club of Old Baneshwor shared points after their match of the Pasha Trophy 2061 Cricket Tournament was washed out due to rain. Umpires Kalyan Adhikari and Sudarshan Thapa awarded one point each to the teams in the league-cum-knock out tournament. On Monday, Kathmandu University Sports Club will take on Kathmandu Khel Mandal. — HNS