KATHMANDU: Nepali men’s basketball team registered their first ever international victory, beating Qatar 33-28 during their last league match at the third Asian Indoor Games in Hanoi, Vietnam on Wednesday.

Bipendra Maharjan scored a massive 17 points and was well supported by Sadish Pradhan, who contributed 11. Already out of contention after losing all the previous matches against Kuwait, Jordan, Thailand and India, Nepal made a slow start trailing 5-0 before Maharjan opened their account with a two-pointer against Qatar. Maharjan also scored two three-pointer as the first quarter ended with Nepal leading 17-12. Thereafter, Nepal maintained their lead finishing the second quarter at 32-28, needing just one point to win the match going into the third quarter. Played under FIBA Three-on-Three format, teams scoring 33 points first wins the match.

In all 17 players from five disciplines — basketball, archery, billiard, chess and boxing — have been representing Nepali in the indoor regional meet. Nepal have already been eliminated in women’s boxing and men’s singles snooker tournament.