Wushu once again opened the gold medal account as Nepal wrapped up the third day of the 12th South Asian Games with four medals.

Nima Gharti Magar claimed a gold in women’s taulo nanquan, while Yubaraj Thapa struck a silver in the men’s category of the same event. Gaurika Singh continued her impressive run with yet another bronze medal in swimming. Nepal’s fourth medal of the day came from women’s badminton team event.

Meanwhile, the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments were thrown into uncertainty, thanks largely to the internal problems in the Basketball Federation of India. The women’s volleyball team crashed out from the semi-finals following a heavy defeat to India.

Gharti Magar, wushu save the blushes

Nepal had gone with a similar fate in their 2010 SA Games participation before wushu broke the gold duck through Binita Maharjan, who now resides in Australia. Gharti Magar filled the void winning the event that Maharjan had brought the gold.

Gharti Magar accumulated 16.89 points beating Swechcha Jatav of India and Mubashra Akhtar of Pakistan. Thapa narrowly missed out on a gold in the men’s taulo nanquan after he scored 18.13 points which was not enough to overhaul 18.65 points earned by India’s gold winner M Phunsuwa. Sri Lankan HMP Manuranga (16.51) took bronze in the event.

It was third silver for Nepal from wushu in the Games after Sushmita Tamang and Bijay Sinjali finished second in the chanquan events of taulo. In the sansau events, Jharna Gurung, Juni Rai and Bindu Pun Magar have entered the final after winning their bouts on Monday.

Singh’s giant leap

Nepali swimming waited long for an individual medal and 13-year old Singh, who lives and trains in London, ended the drought by claiming a historic bronze in the women’s 200m backstroke on Sunday. And on Monday, she moved a step further by winning the 100m backstroke, that too with a new national record.

Singh timed 1:07.31 to improve her previous best record of 1:13.13 set during the 20th National Swimming Championships in Kathmandu last year. Her timing shows a clear improvement on her performance with Singh covering the distance in 1:17.97, a record that she set as an 11-year old in 2014.

Singh had also broken Niharika Tuladhar’s record of 39.81 in the 50m breaststroke, timing 39.44 to qualify for the finals on Monday, but opted out of the event targeting a medal in 100m backstroke. Kimiko Raheem of Sri Lanka and Maana Patel of India won gold and silver respectively.

Sirish Gurung set a new national record in the men’s 400m individual medley but went on to finish fourth in the event won by Sri Lanka and India. Gurung clocked 5:09.49 to improve his previous record of 5:15.24 set during the 2014 Nationals.

Among other Nepali swimmers, Tuladhar ended up eighth in the 50m breaststroke failing to improve her own mark of 39.81, while Kiran Karki and Shuvam Shrestha finished seventh and eighth in the men’s 50m breaststroke. Sofia Shah clocked 28.85 to finish fifth in the women’s 50m freestyle.

Basketbal still uncertain

Basketball events at the SA Games have been thrown into uncertainty after the South Asian Basketball Association (Saba) decided not to compete in the discipline following an interference of India Olympic Association (IOA) on Basketball Federation of India (BFI).

IOA had recently formed an ad-hoc committee of the BFI in presence of an elected body which prompted the Fiba, the world governing body of the sport, to act against the move. Fiba had asked all the basketball federation of South Asia not to participated in the Games saying it will not recognise the basketball tournaments.

Seven teams in both the men’s and women’s section are competing in the basketball tournaments scheduled to for  Guwahati on February 11-16. “We (Saba) had requested the IOA to end the interference in BFI but it has remained rigid. IOA had told us that they will organise the tournament seeking an approval from Olympic Council of Asia but it means going against the norms,” informed Lama Tendi Sherpa, Nepal Basketball Association President.

“The Saba has already decided not to participate in the Games but IOA had asked us for time until Tuesday morning. We are waiting for IOA decision,” said Sherpa.

Volleyball

Nepali women’s lost to India 25-10, 25-9, 25-15 in the semi-finals in Guwahati on Monday. Nepal will now play against Maldives in the bronze medal match. They had entered the last four after earning a walkover win from Afghanistan. The men’s volleyball team had already crashed out from the group stage.

Archery

Nepal missed out on Archery bronze medal after losing the third-place decider against Bangladesh in the Men’s Team Compound on Monday. The Nepali archers Kishor Kumar Gurung, Laxman Pun and Bibek Sen Gurung lost 208-197 in the bronze medal match. Another Nepali archer Prem Lal Pun will fight it out for another bronze medal in Men’s Individual Recurve on Tuesday.

Badminton

Nepali struck bronze in the women’s team event after securing a semi-final berth with a 3-0 win over Afghanistan. The team event comprised of three doubles and two singles matches. However, the Nepali  team lost 3-0 to Sri Lanka in the last four clash to be restricted to bronze.

Table Tennis

Nepal ensured at least a bronze medal in the women’s doubles event on Friday. Nabita Shrestha and Elina Maharjan teamed-up to beat a Pakistani pair 3-1 in the best-of-five sets. Even if they lose their semi-finals match, the duo can at least walk away with a bronze medal.