Open Soft Tennis

KATHMANDU: Biswas Basnet, Ashok Singh, Dipendra Thapa and Manoj Subba entered the men’s singles semi-finals of the first Open Soft Tennis Tournament that started here on Friday. Manoj Subba and Sanjay Nepal made it the men’s doubles semi-finals. Other pairs to make it the last four are Ashok Singh/Bed Shrestha, Biswas Basnet/Dipendra Thapa and Arun Singh and Ramesh Pandey. The remaining matches and the finals are slated for Saturday. — HNS

Varsity qualify

KATHMANDU: Varsity Football Club defeated Bindyabasini Youth Club 2-0 to qualify for the Martyrs Memorial ‘C’ Division League here on Friday. Varsity joined three others — Bhagawati Club, Madhyapur Youth Association and Charumati Youth Club — in the league. In the Group D final of the qualifying tournament held at Sano Gaucharan, Netra Thapa put Varsity ahead in the 40th minute and Nandu Khapangi doubled the lead five minutes later. — HNS

Players honoured

KATHMANDU: Gorkha Action Martial Arts Association honoured players, coaches, officials, instructors and sports journalists. Krishna Rumba and Pasang Lopsang were declared the best players in senior section, while Anjali Lama and Dawa Sherpa took the honour in the junior section. Four sports journalists were also honoured. National Sports Council Member Secretary Jeevan Ram Shrestha handed over the awards. — HNS

Serious Fun Cricket

KATHMANDU: Shangri-La Cricket Academy (SCA) is organising the second Serious Fun Inter-INGO/Donor Cricket Tournament on July 26-27 at The British School. A total of four teams - Britain Nepal Medical Trust, Care Nepal, Save the Children and International Foundation for Electoral System - are taking part in the event. “We are opening cricket academy in Rajbiraj and we are organising the event to raise funds for the cause,” said SCA chief Aamir Akhtar at a press meet. GM of SAC Manoj Vaishya was also present on the occasion. — HNS

Keshav triumphs

KATHMANDU: Keshav Shrestha won the Rambir Memorial first Blindfold Chess Tournament here on Friday. Keshav accumulated four points after beating Sourav Pradhan in the fifth round. He was held to a draw by Prem Krishna Maharjan in the fourth round. R Bajracharya came second with 3.5 points, while Uttam Raj finished third. The top three winners received Rs 5,000, Rs 3,000 and Rs 2,000 respectively. A total of eight players took part in the tournament. Comedian Madan Krishna Shrestha gave away prizes to the winners. — HNS