Raju Rai of Nepal Armed Police Force (APF) Club capped a memorable seventh National Games claiming six gold in gymnastics as Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) and APF set a mouth-watering gold medal title clash in men’s cricket on Thursday.

In a discipline where APF pocketed 10 gold medals, Rai triumphed in men’s floor exercise, pommel horse, roman ring, parallel bar, men’s high bar and all round. In the floor exercise, Rai overcame clubmate Ujjwal Tiwari accumulating 10.70 points. He overcame Ramesh Shrestha of APF and Bhakta Bahadur Chaudhary of Far Western Region in pommel horse.

Sri Krishna Garbuja of APF was pushed to silver in roman ring with Satya Narayan Manandhar of Central Region taking bronze. APF also made top two finish in parallel bar with Rai getting the better of Bishnu Bata. In the high bar, he sidelined clubmate Rikesh Tamang. 

Tiwari was once again beaten for silver in the men’s allround by Raju. Tiwari finally had some solace after he claimed vaulting gold defeating Dinesh Sunar and Ramesh Shrestha of APF. 

APF also won the women’s team event sidelining Central and Far West. Resika Shrestha of APF won the vaulting table gold defeating Tara Shiwakoti of Central and teammate Pinky Jhang. APF made a podium finish in women’s floor exercise with Jhang claiming gold ahead of Shrestha and Sunita Niraula. In allround, Shrestha took gold, Jhang silver and Niraula bronze.

APF, TAC set gold medal clash

National team skipper Paras Khadka-led APF and TAC set a mouth-watering men’s cricket gold medal clash with convincing victories in their semi-final matches. APF defeated Central Region by eight wickets and TAC overcame NPC by same margin to go through. 

APF squeezed out Central for 61 runs in 17.5 overs after Karan KC and Basant Regmi picked up two wickets each. APF lost their opener Subash Khakurel (two) and Aasif Sheikh (eight) cheaply but a 24-ball 33 not out from Pradeep Airee guided them to 62-2 in 9.3 overs. 

Airee, who hit five boundaries, shared 49 runs for the third wicket with Prithu Baskota. Earlier, opener Hari Shankar Sah was the only Central batsman to make runs in double figures scoring 21 off 28 with a six. 

NPC made a modest 144 all out in 20 overs but TAC openers Sagar Pun and Anil Mandal shared a century partnership to make the short work of the target. They reached 145-2 in 18.3 overs after the duo began with a 114-run stand in 14.5 overs. Mandal was unbeaten on 62 off 54 with six boundaries, Pun made a 48-ball 59 with seven fours and a six. 

Aarif Sheikh had top scored for NPC making 35 off 37 with four boundaries and opener Dilip Nath was their next best with a 25-ball 32 that included three fours and a six. Sompal Kami picked up three wickets for TAC, while Bikram Sob and Chandra Saud had two scalps apiece.

Army, APF set football clash

Army set the gold medal clash with APF Club in men’s football in Dharan on Thursday. TAC beat Central Region 7-6 in sudden death penalty shootout. Originally scheduled to complete on Wednesday, the semi-final match was dragged for Thursday due to bad light. The match on Wednesday had ended in a goalless draw and with penalty on cards both teams agreed to complete it on Thursday. 

Army, APF in finals

Army and APF set title clashes in both men’s and women’s handball in Biratnagar on Thursday. Army saw off Eastern Region 35-20 and APF got the better of Western Region 33-26 in the men’s semi-finals. In the women’s semi-finals, Army defeated Western Region 27-12 and APF hammered Central Region 43-6.