Ayusha, Usha advance

KATHMANDU: Ayusha Shahi and Usha Suraj Magar of Nepal made it to the girls’ 20-kg karate semi-finals here at the opening day of the 15th International High School Karate and Kickboxing Championships on Thursday. Ayusha of Blue Sky Public School beat Nikita Shrestha and Ushan defeated Prema Chapagain today. Other Nepali players to advance to the girls’ section semi-finals were Sumana Rajkarnikar of Nawa Vidhya Mandri and Deepa Lama of National Children School in 25kg; Swika Bomjam of Learning Realm International and Anju Lamichhane of Blue Sky Public School in 30kg; and Sunny Tamang of Pokhara School and Sunita Lama of Big Zone School in 35kg category. Making it to the last eight in the boys’ 25kg section were Milan Silwal of Joseph School, Pradeep Khatiwada of Janapath School, Prem Bahadur Pun of Chand Bhairav and Arun Dangol of Durbin School. Likewise, Bhupendra Malla, John Lama, Sunil Poudel and Manoj Khattri entered the quarter-finals of the boys’ 30kg section. Apart from the Nepal, schools from India and Bangladesh are taking part in the tournament that concludes on Sunday. -HNS