Gopi Chandra Parki of Nepal Armed Police Force (APF) Club prevailed in an intense 10,000m departmental duel with Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) as APF walked out of women’s cricket gold medal match on a controversy-marred day of the seventh National Games.

Parki won the middle distance race in 31:39.05 seconds ahead of two TAC runners Krishna Basnet and Hari Rimal as the cold war between the latter and APF chief athletics coach Sushil Narsingh Rana surfaced at the Itahari Stadium track on Tuesday.

Rana accused TAC camp of setting up an ambush for Parki who generated pace with 700m to go to overtake Basnet. Rana had alleged Rimal of blocking Parki’s way and pushed him to prevent him from winning. “We had come here aware of what our opponents were planning to stop us from winning but that didn’t matter to us,” said Rana.

“It was quite obvious that they were blocking Gopi and began playing foul after realising they were not going to win. The referee should have either warned them or shown a red card,” fumed Rana. Rimal, who has long been blaming Rana of sabotaging his career, requested media persons to end the duel and began yelling at the coach.

TAC coach Pushpa Raj Ojha said it was normal to see athletes involved in dispute during long distance running. Rimal, who had won 1500m gold, ended up third in 31:59.84. Second-placed Basnet (31:33.05) was put under shade by the duel.

Army dominated track and field claiming 22 out of 34 gold medals on offer. They also had 16 silver and eight bronze to their name. Kanchi Maya Koju of APF won the women’s 10,000m in 37:16.60 getting the better of TAC runner Bishwo Rupa Budha (38:36.60).

APF walk out to hand Eastern gold

Nepal APF Club walked out from their women’s cricket final against Eastern Region due to on-field controversy at the DVM School grounds. Chasing Eastern’s 63 all out in 18.4 overs, defending champions APF had lost their eight wickets before controversy marred the game.

APF camp protested on-field umpire’s decision of not awarding Ritu Kanojiya a boundary after consultation with the fielder Apsari Begam in the boundary rope. APF camp repeatedly demanded it to be given a boundary but the umpire stood with his decision. APF had needed five runs to win from the last seven balls after the decision.

“We had given APF 27 minutes time and despite their resentment, we gave them five minutes more following a consultation with the team skipper and manager. But after they refused to take to the pitch, we declared Eastern the winners,” said match referee Satyajit Sarkar.     

Western Region earned a crucial five-run victory over Eastern Region to remain on course for the semi-finals from Group ‘B’ in men’s cricket in Biratnagar. Western are second with four points after three matches and will wait for their fate when leaders NPC (four points) play Central

Region (two points) in the last league game.

Western piled up a challenging 143-4 in 20 overs after Krishna Karki and Antim Thapa lifted the team with a 75-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Eastern were bundled out for 138 runs in 19.3 overs with only opener Mehboob Alam putting some fight. The unpredictable allrounder Alam made 47 off 30 with five fours and two sixes and his dismissal paralysed Eastern chase.

Bibek Yadav (19) and Pushpa Thapa (14) were remaining batsmen to score in double digits. Amrit Gurung, Dhiraj Shahi, Shah Alam and Lal Bahadur Adhikari picked up two wickets each for Western Region.

Earlier, Western were reduced to 67-3 in 13.4 overs before Karki and Thapa provided the lift. Karki smashed a 24-ball 55 with five boundaries and three sixes in his unbeaten knock, while Thapa was out for a run-a-ball 41 with two boundaries. Sandeep Thagunna picked up two wickets for Eastern.

In an inconsequential Group ‘A’ game, Mid Western overcame Far Western by seven wickets to sign off with a victory. Far West made 99-6 before a 37-ball 56 not out from Pranit Thapa Magar took Mid West to 100-3 in 12.5 overs. APF and TAC have already entered the semi-finals from the group with the two teams clashing in the last league game on Wednesday.

Police shoot for gold medal

NPC claimed women’s team event gold in 10m air rifle in Satdobato. NPC team of Asmita Rai, Phulmaya Kyapchhaki and Durga Sinjali accumulated 1122 points to get the better of Mid Western Region (1068) consisting of Shanti Bista, Sita Singh and Rushi Somai Thapa Magar. TAC ended up third with 1054 points.

TAC reign supreme in wushu

 Army club dominated wushu events by winning 10 gold medals during the Games. Bijay Thapa Sinjali, Hari Prasad Gole, Sabita Rai, Oshin Rai, Nima Gharti Magar, Chitra Singh Thakuri, Ramchandra Baral, Lumanti Shrestha and Bindu Pun claimed gold for TAC. APF ended up second with six gold medals through Sushmita Tamang, Ashok Khaling, Amar Sunar, Mangal Prasad Tharu, Sanjeev Maharjan and Tej Bahadur Palli. Prem Chandra Singh Darlami and Juni Rai won gold for NPC.

Army dominate in taekwondo

Nepali Army struck two gold medals in taekwondo to add to the six they won in the previous two days. Ramhari Mahat beat Purna Singh Gurung to win the men’s 87kg division title, while Gyanu Chunara defeated Karuna Thapa of Central Region in the final of women’s 57kg event. Nima Gurung of Nepal NPC clinched the women’s 53kg gold. Nima beat Gita Bista of Far-Western Region in the final.

Syantu, Nabita TT champions

Nepal Police Club players Syantu Shrestha and Nabita Shrestha clinched the singles titles in the table tennis in Biratnagar. Syantu beat Shiva Sunder Gothe of APF Club in men’s singles final, while Nabita saw off clubmate Elina Maharjan in the women’s singles gold medal match.