Nepali medal hopeful judoka Phupu Lhamu Khatri limped out of the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Thursday.

The judoka’s hopes hit a big knock even before her preliminary bout started. While warming up for her below-63kg weight division clash against Ardelia Yuli Fradivtha of Indonesia she collied with one of the competitors and injury her preferred right hand. Despite the elbow injury, Khatri entered the ring and fought bravely throughout the four minutes only to lose 1-0. The 2016 Rio Olympian and the gold medallist of 2016 South Asian Games (Sag) conceded a wazaari in the dying moments of the bout.

Khatri is considered as one of the brightest prospect in Nepali judo and has been training in Japan for the last four months as part of her preparation for the 2020 Olympics. She will train in Japan for two more years. Khatri said that it was unfortunate to meet such a freak accident just before the bout. “I was looking for great time but a freak accident dented all my hopes,” said Khatri who could have made it to the quarter-final with victory on Thursday. She would have met Japan’s Nami Nabekura, the eventual gold medallist, in the quarter-final. Even a defeat against the Japanese would have paved her way for a medal as Khatri could have got chance for repechage.

Nepal coach Debu Thapa said Khatri put in an impressive show despite carrying a nasty injury. “She was against quitting the game and competed by putting some tapes to her injury. Considering the opponent, she had a good chance of winning if not for the injury,” said Thapa. “We were really expecting a medal from her,” she added. Khatri was rushed to the hospital promptly after the bout and the MRI report shows that she had sustained tear in the muscle. Thapa said Khatri requires few weeks of rest before continuing with her training.

Manita Shrestha Pradhan and Sanjit Dangol also lost their opening round judo matches. Among eight Nepali judokas, Indra Bahadur Shrestha and Devika Khadka lost on Wednesday. Puna Shrestha (U-78kg), Sri Ram Makaju (U-90kg) and Rabin Shrestha (U-100kg) are schedule to play on Friday.

Pradhan, who competed in the 57kg division, lost 10-1 to Thi Bich Ngoc Nguyen of Vietnam in the round-of-32 match. The 19-year-old was floored by the Vietnamese opponent and conceded ippon (the highest point in judo which is sufficient to win a bout) before scoring a wazaari. Dangol lost the men’s 73kg bout 10-0 against Saudi Arabia’s Sulaiman Fahad Ahamad. Dangol also conceded an ippon.

Table Tennis

Nepal No 1 Nabita Shrestha was the only table tennis player to make it out of first round as other three others made early exits on Thursday. Santoo Shrestha, Amar Lal Malla and Swechchha Nembang all lost. Nabita joined them on the sidelines after losing in the round-of-32 match. In the women’s singles Nabita defeated Tam Sut Fei 4-3 of Macau but lost to Doo Hoi Kem of Hong Kong 4-0 in the next round. She defeated Macau opponent 11-8, 8-11, 3-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-6, 11-7 and lost to Hong Kong player Kem 11-5, 11-1, 11-6, 11-7. Nembang lost 11-9, 13-11, 11-6, 11-6 to Doljinzuu Batbayar of Mongolia. The men’s singles event saw Nepal No 1 Santoo suffer a 12-10, 11-8, 11-9, 7-11, 5-11, 8-11 defeat against Chi Cheng Cheong of Macau. Malla went down 11-8, 9-11, 6-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-2, 11-5 against Erdenebayar Chinbat of Mongolia.

Athletics

Saraswati Bhattarai finished in 14th position in the women’s 1,500m race participated in by 19 athletes. She clocked 4 minutes 34.26 seconds, well below her personal best, which is the national record, timing of 4:33.94. Nepal’s track & field challenge ended in Indonesia with Bhattarai’s 1,500m participation. Som Bahadur Kumar was the only one among the six Nepali athletes set a new national records in the 18th Asian sports meet.

Sepaktakraw

Nepal had a mixed result in the men’s quadrant sepaktakraw on Thursday. Nepal defeated Pakistan 2-0 before going down against Iran again 2-0 in the preliminary Group ‘B’ matches. Nepal beat Pakistan 21-16, 21-8 lost 21-11, 21-7 to Iran. Nepal have already lost against Singapore and Vietnam.  

Squash

Arhant Keshar Simha, Rajendra Shakya and Amrit Thapa all lost as Nepal conceded 3-0 defeat to Hong Kong in the men’s team event. Simha lost 11-5, 11-9, 11-5 against Yep Tsz Fung, Shakya went down 11-2, 11-5, 11-3 to Chi Hin Henry Leung before Amrit Thapa Magar succumbed to a 11-6, 11-3, 11-6 defeat against Chun Ming Au. The defeat meant Nepal lost all five matches in their group. Nepal had previously lost to Pakistan, Japan, South Korea and Philippines in Group ‘A’.

Volleyball

Nepal’s men’s volleyball team lost 3-1 against Sri Lanka in the match played solely to determine rankings of the teams that crash out of the main competition. After winning the first set 25-23, Nepal lost 25-26, 26-24, 25-21. Nepal lost both their matches to Chinese Taipei and South Korea at group stage but beat Mongolia 3-1 in the previous day, the only time Nepal had recorded victory at the Asiad.