Indian athletes swept the top place finishes in the fifth South Asian Triathlon Championships here on Saturday. 

Guru Dutta and Pallavi Retiwala won the men’s and women’s category gold medals as Nepali athletes best performance was limited to a second-place finish in the women’s category. Dutta clocked 54 minutes and 51 seconds to finish ahead of his compatriot and 12th South Asian Games (SAG) triathlon gold medallist Dilip Kumar. Kumar completed the event in 55:59 minutes, while Nepal’s Basanta Tharu stood third with the timing of 56:12 minutes. The event consists of 750m swimming, 10km cycling and 5km run.   

SAG gold medallist Retiwala stamped her dominance in the women’s taking 1:01:03 hour to end up first. Sony Gurung and Roja KC of Nepal ended up second and third, the only delight for the hosts. Gurung took 1:06:02 hour for a second place finish and 12th SAG medallist KC clocked 1:08:04 hour. 

Meanwhile, Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) athletes clean swept the men’s event of the sixth National Triathlon taking home top three honours. The SA event was also considered as the National for Nepali runners. Tharu (56:12 minute) was ahead with his third-place finish in the SA event. Himal Tamata (58:01 minutes) and Rudra Katuwal (58:48 minutes) kept other athletes at bay. While Gurung and KC ended up first and second, TAC’s Yam Kumari Bhujel (1:18:59 minutes) was third. 

In duathlon, consisting of 5km race, 20km cycling and again 2.5km sprint, Man Bahadur Thapa of TAC secured first position in men’s category clocking one hour and 39 seconds. Kiran Kumar Malla (1:03:45 hour) of APF and Achyut Parajuli (1:03:51 hour) earned second and third place finishes. 

In the women’s event, Manju Kumari Khadka of TAC secured gold clocking 1:17:50 hour to beat her clubmate Pushpa Kumari Bhandari, who clocked 1:18:20 hour. The junior boys’ duathlon saw Nitesh Manandhar and Devesh Manandhar of Kathmandu securing gold and silver medals. Nitesh clocked 1:01:43 hour and Devesh returned with the timing of 1:02:43. Roja KC stood first in junior girls’ category winning the event in 1:08:04 hour. 

Lieutenant Colonel Ujwal Thapa and Bangladesh Triathlon Association General Secretary Md Mahmudul Karim among other distributed prizes to the winners. The South Asian Triathlon was participated in by 60 players from Nepal, India and Bangladesh. Afghanistan had withdrawn their participation at the last moment citing visa issues.