Madan, Nikesh lead

LALITPUR: Madan Kayastha and Nikesh Duwal of Bhaktapur share the lead with five points after the completion of the six round of the National Junior Chess Tournament here today. In the U-19 section, Madan beat Dharmendra Chaudhary of Saptari in the fifth round before defeating Prakash Nepal of Jhapa in the next round. Nikesh overcame Sachin Maharjan of Lalitpur and Robin Sunuwar of Chitwan in the fifth and sixth round respectively. Prajwol Raj Rajopadyaya is next with 4.5 points. In the U-15 section, Rupesh Jaiswal, Nabin Jaiwal, Shree Krishna Prajapati, Bijman Thaiba and Bijay Raj Aryal are on top with five points each. Krishna Dev Chaudhary, Suraj Lohani, Bijay Dangol, Anl Silpakar, Akash Subedi and Roshan Duwal are next with four points each. — HNS

Prime enter semis

KATHMANDU: Prime College, Nepal Medical College (NMC), Golden Gate and Little Angels’ College of Management (LACM) advanced into the boys’ semi-finals at the Sprite Basketball Bash 2009 on Wednesday. Prime eased to a comfortable 87-56 win over Himalayan White House College (Baneswor) while NMC sneaked to a narrow 53-50 victory over Kathmandu College of Management (KCM). In the other quarter-finals, Rajiv Shakya top scored with 25 points but could not avert K&K College’s 70-59 defeat against Golden Gate and LACM beat White House (Khumaltar) 51-25. In the girls’ match, Prime thrashed NMC 42-7. — HNS

Third Eye advance

LALITPUR: Third Eye Re-United cruised to the semi-finals of the first South Siders Invitational Basketball Tournament with a 86-58 win over Nepal Commerce Campus here on Wednesday. Third Eye will meet the Golden Gate and Trinity International College will face K&K College in semi-finals on Thursday. — HNS

New website launched

KATHMANDU: Goalnepal.com, an exclusive football site, on Sunday launched a Nepali vernacular football website. “A positive response of the English language version of the site motivated us add another chapter in our effort to popularise of the game in Nepal,” said Birkram Thapa, CEO and Managing Director of the website. All Nepal Football Association vice president and president of Nabil Three Star Club Lalit Krishna Shrestha officailly launched the site here on Wednesday. The English version of the site was launched two months earlier. — HNS

Boonen ruled out

SAN MARTINO DI CASTROZZA: The organisers of the Tour de France confirmed on Tuesday that Belgium’s Tom Boonen will not compete in this year’s race after testing positive for cocaine for the second time. “It’s obviously impossible for Tom Boonen to start the Tour,” event director Christian Prudhomme said. — AFP