Bishwo Budha Magar missed out on country’s second gold as Nepal ended the fourth day of competition in the South Asian Games with one silver and nine bronze medals.

The 13-year old swimmer Gaurika Singh was one of the eight bronze winners claiming her third individual medal in women’s 400m freestyle, breaking yet another national record. Wushu had opened Nepal’s gold medal account on Monday through Nima Gharti Magar but it failed to add another gold after Budha Magar finished second in men’s taulo gunshu, daoshu. 

While the men’s football team entered the semi-finals without being in action, the women’s volleyball team defeated Maldives to claim bronze. Other bronze came from archery, weightlifting and table tennis. Both the men’s and women’s kho kho team won bronze medals.

Wushu wins lone silver

Budha Magar earned 9.1 points in daosu on Tuesday to add to his 8.75 he had earned on Monday in gunshu to win a silver in taulo. Chirag Sharma of India clinched gold, while Mohammad Walid of Pakistan earned silver in the event. It was the fourth silver for Nepal in wushu. In the men’s 65kg sansau, Saroj Pun lost to Afghanistan’s Shekib Haldari in the semi-finals.

In the men’s 56kg sansau, Rajesh Chaudhary confirmed at least a silver after enter the final winning his semi-final bout. Jharna Gurung 

and Juni Rai will also play their final events on Wednesday.

Third bronze for Gaurika

Nepal’s wait for an individual medal in swimming has ended in a grand style through Singh after the teen claimed her third bronze of the Games. Singh timed 4:40.93 to break Sofia Shah’s previous record of 5:07.91, finishing third in the women’s 400m freestyle.

Shah also improved on her personal best, clocking 4:54.51 but ended up fifth. V Malvika (4:30.08) and Shivani Kataria (4:38.03) of India claimed gold and silver respectively. Gurung timed 4:31.54 in the men’s 400m freestyle finishing sixth. Saurabh Sangvekar (3:58.84) and Sajan Prakash (4:03.79) of India won gold and silver medals. 

Singh then set another national record in the women’s 50m backstroke, clocking  31.87. She, however, finished fourth in the finals with the timing of 32.57. Kimiko Raheem of Sri Lanka won gold in 29.75 with Maana Patel (30.06) taking bronze.

Shah and Singh then combined for the women’s 4x200m relay with Sonira Bista and Shreetika Singh to finish fourth in 9:58.34. India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan won gold silver and bronze respectively. Likewise, the men’s relay team con sisting of Sirish Gurung, Manish Chitrakar, Anubhav Subba and Shuvam Shrestha ended up fifth in the men’s 4x200m relay timing 9.17.68. India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh made podium finishes.   

Volleyball

After suffering a crushing defeat at the hands of India, the women’s volleyball team regained pride, defeating Maldives in the bronze medal match. Nepal beat the islanders in straight sets of 25-20, 25-14 , 25-13. The men spikers were out of the competition from the group stage.

Football

The Nepali men’s team was not in the action on field on Tuesday but they made it to the semi-finals after Bangladesh and Bhutan played out a 1-1 draw at the Nehru Stadium. Nepal had opened their tournament with a crushing 5-0 victory over Bhutan in their first Group ‘B’ encounter. Nepal will now meet Bangladesh on Wednesday in a match that will decide the group winners. The women’s football team has so far won their first two matches in the round robin league.

First medal in athletics

Hari Kumar Rimal won the first bronze for athletics finishing third in the men’s 5,000m with a timing of 14:32.18. Man Singh of India bagged gold in 14:03.04 ahead of his compatriot Suresh Kumar, who clocked 14:02.70. 

Weightlifting

Tara Devi Pun brought fourth medal from weightlifting, winning bronze in the women’s above 75kg weight category. Pun lifted 70kg in snatch and 95kg in clean and jerk for a total of 165kg. Sushila Panwar of India took gold with a total lift of 198kg and Ishani Annushka Kaluthanthri of Sri Lanka won silver lifting 173kg. Bikash Thapa had won a silver, while Devi Kumari Chaudhary and Junu Maya Chhantyal have bagged bronze from the discipline.

Archery

Prem Prasad Pun won a bronze in the men’s individual recurve. Pun defeated Sri Lanka’s Nipuna Senevirathne in the third place game.

Table Tennis

Nepal were restricted to bronze in the women’s doubles after suffering a huge-margin defeat from India in the semi-finals. The Nepali duo of Nabita Shrestha and Elina Maharjan lost to Indian pair in straight sets of 11-5, 11-6, 11-7.