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Indians share lead

KATHMANDU: Indian players Shankar Rai and Roktim Bandhopadhyaya shared the lead with six points after the seventh round of the Nepal-India Rating Chess Tournament, which has been organised by the dissolved Nepal Chess Association, on Friday. Indian players Atanu Lahari, Saptarishi Rai, Bipul Subashi and Nepal’s Surbir Lama and Rajan Chhetry are at the joint second position with 5.5 points each. Punyaman Karmacharya, Janardan, Laba Kumar Shrestha, Hari Chandra Hona, Mahesh Thapa, Bijay Kumar, Roshan Kumar Jaiswla and Shankar Rai have five points and are the third position. — HNS

Players selected

KATHMANDU: Nepal Shotokan Karate Association (JSKA) selected players for the first JSKA Karate Open International Championship 2007 and Referee and Technical Seminar slated for September 4-8 in Kathmandu. A total of 80 players were selected for the championship, which will be participated in by about 500 players from 23 countries. The championship features 37 events in Shotokan Karate style and 27 in WKO style. The players were selected after the final-round national selection tournament held here on Friday. Meanwhile, a three-member JSKA team is leaving for Japan to participate in the World Shotokan Karate Championship Referee and Judge Seminar to be held there from August 21-27. The team includes JSKA president and chief coach Hem Kumar Shrestha, treasurer and manager Rajendra Babu Shrestha and coach Mahesh Kumar. — HNS

Team Japan-bound

KATHMANDU: A three-member swimming team left for Japan to take part in the International Swimming Meet 2007 — the qualifier for the 29th Beijing Olympics. Sailesh Rana will compete in the 50m free style event at the meet slated for August 21-24 in Chiwa, said National Sports Council. The other members in the team are Nepal Swimming Association (NSA) president Pragun Shumsher Rana and general secretary Ashok Bajracharya. — HNS

NAA nominates seven

KATHMANDU: The first meeting of the Nepal Archery Association (NAA) on Friday decided to nominate seven members in its executive committee. According to National Sports Council, the NAA nominated Bijay Rai (Morang) and Sundar Gurung (Kaski) as the vice presidents. Jyoti Bhattachan of Kaski and Kathmandu’s Prem Prasad Pun, Bangel Gurung, Ramesh Prasad Bhatta and Dudhuk Gurung were nominated as the members. A 12-member committee under Laxman Shrestha was elected on August 12. — HNS

Loew calls Pander

FRANKFURT: Germany coach Joachim Loew has called up a third rookie for Wednesday’s friendly against England at Wembley. Loew selected defender Christian Pander of Schalke on Friday to replace Clemens Fritz of Werder Bremen, who has a stomach injury. Pander joins Stuttgart’s Sami Khedira and Serdar Tasci as newcomers to the national team. Germany have major injury problems — captain Michael Ballack, Torsten Frings, Mario Gomez, Lukas Podolski, Tim Borowski and Marcell Jansen are all out of the game. — AP