Maharjan completes hat-trick in karate
Mukunda Maharjan of Nepal APF Club completed hat-trick of gold medals when he won one in the seventh National Games at the Sahid Maidan Stadium in Biratnagar today.
Maharjan defeated Md Shekhu Alam in the 67kg weight category final to claim his third gold medal in the sporting extravaganza. Bhupendra Khadka of Nepal Police Club and Bishal Paudel of Central Region finished joint third. Maharjan had also bagged gold medals in the fifth and sixth editions of the National Games held in Kathmandu and Dhangadhi. He became the second athlete to bag treble in the ongoing Games in the Eastern Region. Parshuram Bastola had completed the hat-trick of gold medals in the men’s individual kata section on Saturday.
In the men’s 84kg section, Diwas Shrestha of NPC bagged the gold medal after he beat Sunit Gharti Magar of Western Region, while Ishwar Majhi of Eastern and Bhim Bahadur Tamang of APF came third. Likewise, Kalpana Basnet of NPC won women’s 68kg weight category gold medal, while Rita Karki of Tribhuvan Army Club claimed silver. Rojita Ranjit of Central and Manita Moktan of NPC bagged bronze medals. The karate events were postponed yesterday after NPC players and officials protested referee’s decision and sat on the mat not allowing the organisers to conduct the bouts.
