Chess team departs

KATHMANDU: A seven member Nepali chess team on Friday left for Sri Lanka to participate in the MORA Kings' International Rating Chess Tournament to be held in Colombo from August 26 to September 1. The team includes veterans 1958-rated Sitaram Agrawal 'Prabhu' and 2043-rated Rajendra Prasad Shrestha along with young guns 1978-rated Shyam Shrestha, and unrated Govinda Khadka and Bijaya Gurung. National arbitor Umesh KC and Eklal Shrestha also accompanied the team. The tournament will be played over

|nine rounds in Swiss League Format. President of Nepal Chess Association Rajesh Hari Joshi bade farewell

to the team. — HNS

Judo officials leave

KATHMANDU: A two-member Nepal Judo Association (NJA) team on Friday left for Netherlands to attend the International Judo Federation (IJF)'s Annual General Meeting (AGM) to be held at Rotterdam from August 23-29. The NJA president Deepak Harsha Bajracharya and member Deepak Pradhan will participate in the AGM. The officials will request the IJF to name Nepal as the venue of the Judo for Peace International Tournament slated this September. NJA officials bade farewell to the team here on Friday. — HNS