KATHMANDU: VS Niketan and Triton International College won the White House Cup third U-19 National Basketball Championships here today.

VS Niketan defeated Depot Higher Secondary School 39-29 to clinch the men’s section title while Triton overcame Golden Gate College 34-25 to lift the women’s section championship. In the men’s

final, VS Niketan entirely dominated the first quarter scoring 10 points against

nil of Depot. VS maintained the 10-point cushion

in the second quarter after both the teams added 14 points each.

But VS Niketan extended their lead to 17 points in the third quarter scoring 13 while giving away only

six to Depot. The fourth and final quarter saw VS

Niketan add further 12 and Depot nine points. Nabin Pulami Magar of the winning team was adjudged the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the tournament and won Rs 15,000.

In the women’s final, Triton scored a decisive 15 points in the second quarter to win the championship despite trailed Golden Gate by two points in the opening quarter. Triton scored eight to that of 10 of the Golden Gate in the first quarter before bouncing back with 15-4 score in the second period. They extended their lead by two more points to 11 by the end of the third quarter as Triton scored four and

conceded two to

Golden Gate. Triton won the championship despite scoring two points lesser (7-9) than Golden Gate in the last quarter thanks to the huge lead coming into

decisive period. Suchita Gurung of Triton was declared the MVP and won Rs 15,000 for her excellent performance throughout the tournament.

White House, NeBA felicitate Bista

KATHMANDU: Taekwondo ace Deepak Bista was felicitated for his remarkable achievement in the South Asian Games here on Monday.

White House College and Nepal Basketball Association (NeBA) feted Bista with Rs 100,001 and Rs 55,555 respectively after the player won the fourth successive gold medal at the 11th South Asian Games in Dhaka last month. Bista is the first player in the South Asian Games’ history to accomplish the feat. Bista is also the only second Nepali player after Sangina Baidya, also a taekwondo player, to qualify for the Olympics. Except for Bista and Baidya, no one has ever qualified for the Olympics. Nepal’s participation in Olympics has always been through wild card entries. Baidya had fought her way to the 2004 Athens Olympics while Bista earned a ticket to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Senior CPN-UML leader KP Oli handed the cash and letter of appreciation to Bista on the sidelines of the White House Cup third U-19 National Basketball Championship on Monday.