Sunsari, December 26

Tribhuvan Army Club athletes Saraswati Bhattarai and Krishna Chaudhary completed the treble of gold medals in the seventh National Games here at the Itahari Stadium today.

Bhattarai, who shattered the 1,500m national record in the Rio Olympic Games earlier this year, won the women’s 800m race with the timing of two minutes and 19.42 seconds to win her third gold medal of the meet toady. Fellow TAC athlete Sanu Maya Karki (2:25.60) and Sima Kumari Chaudhary (2:31.62) of Far-western Region came second and third respectively. Bhattarai won the 1,500m on Saturday and teamed up with Krishna Chaudhary, Durga Devkota and Sangita Meche to bag the 400m relay gold on Sunday.

Another Army athlete Chaudhary won the 200m race with the timing of 26.90 seconds, finishing ahead of her teammate Sangita Meche (27.72), while Mid-western’s Pramila Tharu took 27.73 seconds to win the bronze medal. Earlier, Chaudhary had won the 100m and 400m relay races and has a chance to make it four as she is scheduled to run in the 100m relay on Tuesday. Durga Devkota of TAC won her second gold medal of the meet when she finished first in the 400m hurdles in one minute and 10.02 seconds.  APF’s Sabita Chaudhary (1:10.61) and Eastern’s Sabita Shrestha (1:28.50) were second and third respectively.

TAC coach Pushpa Raj Ojha said the athletes were on their way of reaching the team target. “We had prepared our athletes with a target of finishing first in team championship and I am happy that we are on the right track,” said Ojha. “We had set a target of winning 18-20 gold medals in the meet,” said Ojha, whose athletes have already won 17 gold medals in the Games. “Nothing can be said until the final results but we are hoping to do even better than the target,” he added.

Yam Sajan Sunar of Mid-western Region claimed the second straight gold medal when he won the men’s 200m race with the timing of 21.70 seconds. Ashish Chaudhary of APF came second in 22.22 seconds and Anand Dev of TAC bagged bronze in 22.25 seconds. Sunar had won the 100m race on Saturday.

Also, Som Bahadur Kumal of TAC bagged gold in men’s 800 metres in two minutes and 02.47 seconds, leaving behind his teammate Jeevan Chaudhary, who finished the race in two minutes and 04.71 seconds. Hikmat Dhami of Nepal APF Club finished third with a timing of two minutes and 04.87 seconds.

Likewise, Dilli Khatri of TAC won men’s triple jump gold with a jump of 14.04 metres, while Chandra Dev Joshi (13.80m) of NPC and Prabin Bahadur Pal (13.43m) of Far-western claimed silver and bronze respectively. NPC’s Keshari Chaudhary captured first position in the women’s category by jumping 11.67 metres, while APF’s Shila Chaudhary (10.85m) and TAC’s Sangita Meche (10.41m) were second and third.

ITF Taekwondo

TAC won six gold medals in ITF taekwondo on Monday in Damak, Jhapa. Rubina Khadka (45-50kg), Rina Dhamala (51-55kg), Tulasa Rajthala (56-60kg), Srijana Rai (61-65kg), Basanti Budhamagar (above-65kg) won gold medals in the women’s category for TAC, while Purna Bahadur Magar (45-50kg) won gold in the men’s category. Central’s Sunil Mahato (51-55kg), Western’s Dinesh Budha Magar (55-60kg) and Eastern’s Dilan Rai (61-65kg) also won gold medals.

Kho-kho

TAC earned first position in both the men and women’s kho-kho events at the Inaruwa Jail grounds in Sunsari. Central and Far-western came second and third respectively in the men’s category, while Mid-western and Far-western won silver and bronze respectively in the women’s section.

Table Tennis

Nepal Police Club won the mixed doubles gold and silver medals in Table Tennis. Deep Saun and Nabita Shrestha defeated Syantu Shrestha and Elina Maharjan 11-8, 11-5, 11-4 in the all-NPC final. APF duo Purushottam Bajracharya and Sonu Thapa Magar and TAC’s Krishna Thapa Magar and Robina Maharjan bagged bronze medals.

Judo

Tribhuvan Army Club claimed eight gold medals to finish first in the judo tournament under the seventh National Games at the Pasang Lhamu Foundation in Dhulabari today. TAC also won five silver and eight bronze medals on their way to winning the team championship. Central Region came second with six each gold and silver and four bronze medals, while Nepal Police Club finished third with five each gold, silver and bronze. Hosts Eastern Region, Mid-western Region, Far-western Region and Western Region won one gold medal each, while Nepal APF Club ended up with five bronze medals. On the final day, Mahendra Giri and Megh Bahadur Singh won gold medal in kata beating Mohan Sunuwar and Ramesh Magar of Central Region, while TAC bagged bronze. In the men’s team event, Central Region finished first ahead of TAC, while Eastern and NPC came joint third. In women’s team event, TAC beat Central to win gold, whereas Far-western and NPC finished third.

Basketball

Central Region won gold medal in the women’s basketball beating TAC 40-27 riding on Alina Gurung’s 13 points in Dharan on Monday. Mid-western beat Eastern 34-7 to bag bronze medal. In men’s section, Central recorded a 62-58 win over Eastern and Western saw off Mid-western 106-54 in semi-finals.

Sepak Takraw

Western Region beat TAC 21-12, 21-12 in the men’s doubles event of sepak takraw to win gold medal. Western had also won women’s doubles gold on Sunday. In the men’s team event semi-final matches, Central will meet Mid-western and TAC will face Far-western.

Football

NPC and Central advanced to the semi-finals of the men’s football tournament at the ANFA Technical Centre grounds in Dharan. NPC finished at the top of Group B and Central advanced as runners-up. NPC defeated Central 3-1 on Monday to finish first on head-to-head results after both the teams earned six points. Jumanu Rai and Ram Awale scored a goal each for NPC, while Sanjib Karki of Central scored an own goal. Dinesh Henjan netted the consolation goal for Central.

Weightlifting

Tribhuvan Army Club’s Kamala Shrestha and Kamal Bahadur Adhikari set new national records in weightlifting tournament under the seventh National Games in Rajbiraj, Saptari on Monday. Shrestha lifted 66kg in snatch and 79kg in clean and jerk for the total 145kg in the women’s 58kg weight category to break the national record held by Jhant Katuwal. Katuwal had lifted a total of 142kg including 65kg in snatch during the national tournament 13 years ago. In the men’s 85kg, Adhikari lifted 155kg in clean and jerk to shatter Gyan Bahadur Shrestha’s mark of 154kg set during the 10th South Asian Games in Sri Lanka. Adhikari lifted a total of 260kg, including 105 in snatch.