KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 29
Top Nepali pro Sukra Bahadur Rai carded three-under 69 in the second round and carried the Nepali flag into the final two rounds of the golf tournament under the 19th Asian Games at the West Lake International Golf Course in Hangzhou today.
Three Nepali amateurs, Subash Tamang, Sadbhav Acharya and Yuvaraj Bhujel missed the cut which was applied at one-under 143 with only top 40 golfers making it to the final two rounds. Nepal finished 12th in the 20-nation team event with the total score of three-under 429.
Rai posted five-under 139 after 36 holes and moved up to share the 29th position with Indian duo SSP Chawrasia and Khalin Hitesh Joshi along with Philippines' Carl Jano Corpus. Taichi Kho of Hong Kong was a runaway leader at 22-under 122 after he fired a 12-under 60 in the second round. Overnight leader Yubini Jang (67) of South Korea and Chien-Yao Hung (63) of Chinese Taipei shared the second position at 128.
Starting the day from the 10th tee, Rai carded two-under 34 in his front nine with the help of birdies on the 14th and 17th holes. After taking the turn, he carded one-under 35. He faced the lone bogey of the day on the third against birdies on the second and third.
Top amateur Tamang carded second straight even-par 72 and finished joint 42nd with the total score of 144. Tamang, who caught fever before the tournament in China, carded four birdies on the 10th, 17th, fifth and seventh but went on to face bogeys on the 12th and 14th and suffered a double bogey in the second. He had a chance to make the cut with a birdie on the final hole, but he missed a downhill putt from three yards.
Young amateur Acharya also came close to making the cut but missed it by two shots at the end.
He played three-over 75 for the 36-hole total of two-over 146 and shared the 48th position. Acharya, who had carded one-under 71 in the first round, took the turn at two-over 38 after he dropped shots on the 11th and 14th holes. He then played oneover 37 on the back nine. After facing a bogey on the fourth, Acharya carded first birdie of the day on the sixth but he dropped a shot on the final hole.
Bhujel had a forgettable round after he shot nine-over 81 for the total score of 11-over 155. He finished joint 65th in the tournament participated in by 82 players including top professional golfers of the region. Like three other Nepali golfers, Bhujel also started the day from the 10th tee and he shot three-over 39 on his front nine before faltering to sixover 42 on the latter half. He suffered double bogeys on the 11th and seventh, faced triple bogey on the fourth and a bogey on the 13th, first and third holes. Bhujel carded a lone birdie of the round on the fifth hole.
In the women's section, both Nepali players Kashmira Shah and Sishma Sigdel missed the cut. Shah played 11-over 83 in the second round for the 36-hole total of 31-over 175, while Sigdel shot 19-over 19 for the total score of 35-over 179. The two Nepali players finished ahead of bottom-placed Ichinnorov Dolgorsuren of Mongolia, who played 41-over 185 in the 39-woman field. In the team event, Nepal finished 13th in the 14-team competition with a total score of 66-over 354.
Nepal's disappointing run in the Hangzhou Asiad continued for the seventh straight day, although PUBG of esports made it to the Group C semi-finals. The team of Subin Kumar Prajapati, Dipesh Gurung, Sahas Bhandari, Samir Gurung and Sangin Bhattarai advanced to the last four stage as runners-up behind Hong Kong in the elimination round of the Peace Elite Asian Games Version.
Nepal will now compete against South Korea, Chinese Taipei and Japan in the Group A semi-finals. Top two teams from Group A will join two teams from Group B in the finals. Thailand, China, Hong Kong and Indonesia are in Group B.
Nepali swimmers also failed to leave their mark in the Asian Games. A total of four swimmers took part in eight events but none of them were even able to break the national record, let alone qualify for the finals.
On Friday, Nasir Yahya Hussain finished 22nd among 25 participants in the men's 400m freestyle. He completed the distance in four minutes and 22.02 seconds.
In women's 3X3 basketball, Nepal crashed out of the group stage following their third straight defeat. Nepal faced a 22-2 loss against Chinese Taipei in the final match of Group B today.
Skipper Shreya Khadka and Mina Gurung scored one each for Nepal. In previous matches, Nepal had faced a 22-4 defeat at the hands of Japan and a 17-10 loss against Kazakhstan.
In badminton, Nepal suffered a 3-0 defeat against India in the men's team event. Nepali shuttlers Prince Dahal, Sunil Joshi and Bishnu Katwal all lost in straight sets to the Indian players.
In women's handball, Nepal faced a 27-18 loss against Hong Kong in Group B match. Hong Kong dominated the first half and took a 14-6 lead. Nepal bounced back in the second half scoring 13 goals against 12 from Hong Kong but that was not enough for them to avert the loss.
In athletics, both Nepali players Som Bahadur Kumal and Santoshi Shrestha could not perform to their expectations. Kumal came fifth in men's 400m heats in 48.68 seconds to finish fifth in seven-man competition.
The 13th South Asian Games gold medal winner, Shrestha came sixth in the women's 10,000m race with the timing of 38 minutes and 40.15 seconds.
She won 2019 SA Games gold medal in 35:07.94.
A version of this article appears in the print on September 30, 2023, of The Himalayan Times
