Nepal Wrestling Association (NWA) on Tuesday finalised the 12th South Asian Games wrestling squad with eight men selected for the February 6-16 event in India.

The governing body of wrestling had picked up eight women wrestlers on Monday along with Satyendra Prasad Yadav of Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) in men’s 125kg after the latter had no opponent to fight against. Seven more wrestlers were selected on Tuesday following the final round of selection at the Satdobato Sports Complex.

Jay Mangal Yadav of Parsa made it through from 57kg after defeating Lochan Mahato of TAC. Ram Babu Yadav of Bara defeated Pramalal Yadav of his own district to qualify from 61kg weight category. Saroj Yadav of Parsa won the 65kg fight defeating Gyanu Kumar Yadav of Siraha.

Another Armyman Baijnath Yadav also earned his tickets for SAG from 70kg defeating Nayara Thapa Magar of Gorkha. Bhekhraj Pandit of TAC also made it through with a victory over Sandesh Pandit of Bara in 74kg. The 10th South Asian Games silver medallist Bunilal Raut Ahir will have another shot at the Games when he qualified in 86kg beating Ramesh Gotame of Banke. Samir Sah of Parsa prevailed in the 97kg final against Jitendra Prasad Yadav of Siraha.

On Monday, Sumitra Rai (48kg), Ishwori Thapa (53kg), Sharmila (55kg), Laxmi Khatri (58kg), Kabita Pun (60kg), Shanti Chaudhary (63kg), Lila Singh (69kg) and Bhanu Thapaliya (75kg) were picked up for women events. While the women’s wrestling is into its maiden appearance in the Games, men’s event is included for the third time in row. Nepal have so far won four silver and nine bronze from wrestling in Games.

Badminton

There was no disappointment for top seed players in badminton as Nepal No 1s Ratnajit Tamang and Sara Devi Tamang qualified for the Games following the completion of the Selection Tournament on Tuesday.

Ratnajit was among the three Army players picked up by the Nepal Badminton Association along with Dipesh Dhami and Nabin Shrestha. Nepal Armed Police Force (APF) Club had three players selected in Bikash Shrestha, Sudip Sedhai and Sajan Krishna Tamrakar. Bishnu Katwal was the lone Nepal Police Club (NPC) shuttler to earn a ticket for India.

Apart from Saradevi, her sister Nangsal, Amit Giri, Shikshya Shrestha, Jessica Gurung, Megha Chand and Anju Rai qualified in the women’s section. Shrestha is the only APF player in the women’s squad dominated by TAC shuttlers. A total of 18 players—10 in men’s and eight in women’s—had made it through for the last round of selection tournament played under league format.

Badminton, which entered the Games from the ninth edition held in Islamabad, Pakistan, has so far won seven bronze medals for Nepal. Sumina Shrestha is the lone player to win individual bronze, rest of the medal came from team events.