Lalitpur, July 14:

Sailesh Rana, Alice Shrestha, Kisim Lal Tharu and Om Bahadur Kumal in the men’s and Shaila Rana, Nayana Shakya, Bibidha Rimal and Karishma Karki in the women’s section were the swimmers selected for the 10th South Asian Games.

The players were named after the 14th Open National and ninth Galaxy Cup Swimming Tournament that concluded today here at the Birendra Memorial International Swimming Complex. Nepalu Chaudhary and Oshin Bharati were placed in the reserves list.

On the last day of the competition, Sailesh won the 100m butterfly gold in one minute 13.44 seconds, ahead of Rajaram Manandhar (1.16.76) and Lal Bahadur Mahato (1.21.97), while Shaila came first in women’s section in 1.23.28 ahead of Nayana (1.23.94) and Karishma (1.28.40).

Olympian Nayana Shakya registered her first gold of the tournament when she won the 50m free style with the timings of 33.32 seconds beating Shaila (33.75) and Oshin (34.82). Kisim Lal Tharu won the men’s 50m backstroke in 34.12 seconds, whereas Prasiddha Jung Shahi (37.36) and Sailesh (37.93) came second and third.

Shaila came first in the 50m backstroke in 38.73 seconds winning her sixth gold medal of the tournament, while Sujana Shakya (39.75) and Oshin Bharati (40.35) came second and third. In men’s 50m free style, Om Bahadur Kumal came first in 28.47 seconds, followed by Alice Shrestha (28.68) and Sailesh Rana (28.82).

Little Angels’ School won the ninth Galaxy Cup with 185 points, while Baba School finished distant second with 40 points and KISC came third with 33 points. The winners in the various events at the school section included Kumari Tamang, Tek Bahadur Tamang, Kabita Thapa, Pratik Shrestha, Sony Gurung, Bina Thapa, Gaurav Tulachan Ekta Gurung, and Bipin Pokhrel. Little Angels’ School also won the 4X50m free style relay gold medal.

Member secretary of National Sports Council Jeevan Ram Shrestha gave away prizes to the winners.

Chaudhary breaks high jump record

KATHMANDU: Bal Krishna Chaudhary set a new national record in high jump with a jump of 1.89 metres at the Athletics Championship, which has been been organised by a NSC-formed committee to select the players for the upcoming South Asian Games. Nepal Police athlete Chaudhary broke Lok Bahadur Adhikari’s 13-yeal-old mark of 1.88m.

Rajendra Bhandari of Tribhuvan Army Club won the 2,000m steeple chase with the timings of five minutes 55.80 seconds. Ashnarayan Chaudhary of Armed Police Force came second in 6:30.40 in the event held for the first time in Nepal as trail. Nepal will participate in 3,000m steeple chase in the SAG. In javelin throw, armyman Dhirendra Jung Shah came first with a throw of 64.67 metres, followed by Narendra Jung Shah of Nepal Police (59.66m). Tika Chaudhary of TAC completed the women’s 400m hurdles in 59.30 seconds to finish first, while fellow runner Chandra Kala Thapa won the women’s 200m race in 26.50 seconds. According to the NSC, the athletes will be selected as per their performance in this championship and their track records in the eight and the ninth SAF Games.

Archery players announced

LALITPUR: Nepal Archery Association on Friday selected Deepak Raj Gurung, Prem Chochange and Ramesh Bhattachan of Kathmandua and K K Gurung of Pokhara have been selected for the forthcoming South Asian Games (SAG) to be held in Sri Lanka next month.

At the final selection held at Mal Pokhara in Bagdol, Deepak accumulated 560 points out of total 720, while Prem earned 558, K K Gurung got 531 and Ramesh added 493.

Of the total six players, Yogendra Serchan of Pokhara did not attend the tournament because of personal reasons, while Binod Gauchan of Kathmandu earned the lowest — 433 points, said National Sports Council in a release.

Nepal’s biggest win in Archery came in Bangladesh earlier this year when the Nepali archers won men’s team event at the first South Asian Archery Championship. Except for Ramesh Bhattachan, all other three selected for this year’s SAG had participated in that event. Archery is included in the SAG for the first time.