The men’s doubles team of Purushottam Bajracharya and Amar Lal Malla crushed Mongolian team 3-0. The victory sets up Bajracharya and Malla a clash against Indian pair in the round of 32 match.

Mongolian team were competitive in the first set but still lost it 8-11. The Nepali duo then sealed the match easily winning the next two sets 11-6, 11-6. Bajracharya said the win signals the rise of Nepali table tennis. “We were losing against (tough) teams like India and China. Our abilities were underrated because we had been  playing against a very tough opponents,” said Bajracharya.

Bajracharya added his partner (Malla) helped them form a good coordination leading to a comfortable victory. On Sunday, Ajay Suwal had defeated Kuwait in the singles in men’s team event that Nepal eventually lost. Nepal had also sailed into the knockout round of the World TT Team Events Championship beating four teams. The Nepal Table Tennis Association President Chaturananda Rajvaidhya said the win over a good team like Mongolia has to be a taken as a success.

Nepal champion Shiva Sundar Gothe, meanwhile, lost to Mongolia 2-4 in the men’s singles despite being in a winning position. Gothe lost 14-12, 6-11, 11-5, 3-11, 7-11. Coach Sunil Yonjan said the inexperience cost Gothe the game. In the women’s doubles Nepal lost to Hong Kong 0-2. Rabina Maharjan and Rita Prajapati lost 11-8, 11-5, 11-3, Nabita Shrestha and Kajol Rauniyar were downed 11-3, 11-4, 11-7. In the mixed doubles Bajracharya and Rauniyar also lost in straight sets.

Nepal’s challenge in boxing ended after Ujir Singh Magar was disqualified in his men’s middleweight round of 16 bout. Magar was going head-to-head trailing his opponent from Jordan 27-30 but got warning twice from the referee for head-butting. Another warning in the second round threw him out of the game.

In wrestling, Bunni Lal Raut lost to his Chinese opponent 4-0 in the freestyle 74kg fight. Samir Kumar Shah also lost to Pawan Kumar of India 4-0 in the 86kg freestyle. After the sepak takraw team left for Nepal early, South Korea and India have filed a walkover victory.

Both men’s and women’s soft tennis teams put on a dismal show and crashed out of the opening round. Manoj Subba lost 0-4 to Chinese Taipei player, Kamal Bahadur Bhandari went down 1-4 to a Mongolian in the men’s singles, while Alija Ranjit succumbed 1-4 and Niru Kayastha was crushed 0-4 by Mongolian opponents.

National record holder Keshari Chaudhary had an average day. In the women’s long jump, Keshari leapt 4.76m. The Nepali contingent will have a close look on Tuesday when taekwondo events begin.

Medal hopeful Yan Kumar Chaulagain will take on a Malaysian opponent in the women’s below-49kg round of 16 bout, while Nima Gurung will be up against Chinese Taipei in the below-53kg. Another player Sakchhyam Karki has already been ruled out of the men’s below-74kg pre-quarterfinal bout.

Karki  had sustained injury during a training ahead of the Games. He has been undergoing treatment in Korea. On Monday, Ajay Pandit Chhetri will compete in the men’s cross country cycling along with Narayan Gopal Maharjan. Laxmi Magar will participate in women’s race.

Federation-feud dashes medal hopes

INCHEON: The tug-of-war between the parallel Nepal Karate Federations (NKF) has severely affected the country’s medal aspirations. Medal hopefuls Ganga Adhikari and Chanchala Danuwar were found to have registered their names as officials, a mistake that resulted from a compromise between two Federations.

The Nepali karate team arrived in Incheon from Japan after a week-long special training programme.

Both the Federations — the one recognised by international governing bodies and the other by the government — had registered their players prior to the Games. After the situation didn’t calm down back in Nepal, the two bodies agreed to assemble the players and made the error of not registering Adhikari and Danuwar as players.

Kumite player Adhikari, a gold medallist in the 11th SA Games, is a karateka from whom a lot is expected during any international outing. She has won several international gold medals. Danuwar is a kata player. Karate has been scheduled to begin after three days with Nepal fielding four players each in men’s and women’s categories. (PR)