NASA awards winners

KATHMANDU: The Nepal Automobile Sports Association (NASA) awarded the winners of the Kathmandu-Jiri motorbike rally on Saturday. Ayush Dhaubanjar and Monish Mulepati’s pair had won the award and Rs 15,000 in the one day rally held on September 13. Shyam Prakash Shilpakar and Jaya Prakash Tandukar took Rs 10,000 finishing second while Ayush Krishna Shrestha and Manil Singh ended up third to bag Rs 5,000. Prem KC and Megha KC were declared the best veterans while Rukesh Maharjan and Puranjan Kunwar were given best drive award. In all, 80 bikers covered a distance of 188km within the limited time of seven hours and two minutes. — HNS

Referees off to China

KATHMANDU: A four-member Nepali referees team left for China on Saturday to attend the Referee Seminar slated for September 20-24 in Guangzhou. referees Mahendra Rai, Yogesh Chamling, Surendra Gurung and Dil Sake will participate in the seminar to be held before the ninth AKF Senior Karate Championship. A 10-member team — Singh Bahadur Rana, Bishan Mote, Raju Maharjan, Om Prasai, Rajendra Ojha, Ram Mani Kafle, Milan Prasai, Madhav Ghimire, Kapil and Sunita Shrestha — has already left for Guangzhou on Friday to participate in the seminar, said karate coach Deepak Shrestham, the two time South Asian Games gold medallist. Sunita is the first Nepali woman referee to participate in any international seminar. — HNS

NKorea to play Nantes

TOKYO: North Korea are to travel to France to play a World Cup warm-up match against Nantes next month, South Korea’s Yonhap news reported on Saturday. The match against the Ligue 2 side will be held in the western French city on October 9 during a training visit to Europe by the North Koreans. North Korea qualified for next year’s World Cup in South Africa alongside South Korea, Australia and Japan as one of Asia’s four automatic qualifiers. — Agencies

SA chief apologises

PRETORIA: South Africa’s top track official has apologised for denying knowledge of gender tests done on runner Caster Semenya in the country. Athletics South Africa president Leonard Chuene said on Saturday that his constant denials were an “error of judgment” and apologised for misleading the public. He says he knew of the tests and was trying to protect Semenya’s privacy. South African officials have repeatedly said tests were done on the 800-metre world champion only abroad. — AP