Sports
Armyman Basnet wins marathon
Tribhuvan Army Club runner Krishna Basnet claimed the title of the CoAS Open Marathon in Kathmandu on Saturday as the athletes from the departmental team dominated the show.Tribhuvan Army Club runner Krishna Basnet claimed the title of the CoAS Open Marathon in Kathmandu on Saturday as the athletes from the departmental team dominated the show.
The 35-year old runner from Ramechhap, Basnet, clocked 2 hours 22 minutes and 52 seconds to complete the 42.195km as TAC dominated the top five finishes, barring the second spot won by Gopi Chandra Parki of Nepal Armed Police Force (APF) Club. Parki clocked 2:25: 37 hours. Army’s Rajan Khatri (2:29:12), Khadka Bahadur Khadka (2:29:50) and Khagendra Bhat (2:33:19) secured third to fifth place finish for the event organisers.
Basnet gave a good display of running as he was not overtaken by any other runner throughout the event. “I am very much pleased to win the title for the hosts’ team,” said Basnet who joined the sport after joining Nepal Army about a decade ago. Basnet was runner-up behind Bhumi Raj Rai of Nepal Police Club (NPC) in the last edition. “I was very much optimistic for win and I credit my victory to Nepal Army and my family,” said Basnet.
Basnet however said that he failed to better is own mark by one minute in the marathon that saw participation of 323 runners. Basnet was rewarded with a two wheeler in addition to a cash prize of Rs 100,000. Runner up Parki got Rs 50,000 while third to fifth place finishers bagged Rs 25,000, Rs 15,000 and Rs 7,000 respectively.
TAC athletes also clean swept the top three spots in the men’s half marathon and claimed top two positions in women’s half marathon. In the men’s 21km race which saw the top three finishers separated by few seconds, Army athletes Gajendra Raj Rai (1:10:00), Ramji Basnet (1:10:02) and Kalyan Baniya (1:10:03) made the podium finish. The top three finishers were rewarded with Rs 25,000, Rs 15,000 and Rs 10,000 respectively.
Army’s Bishwarupa Budha won the women’s event clocking 1:19:05 to get the better of her clubmate Reshu Basnet (1:22:43). APF’s Brinda Dhan Kumari Shrestha ended up third with 1:23:06. Budha was rewarded with a scooter in addition to the cash prize of Rs 25,000. Basnet and Shrestha got Rs 15,000 and Rs 10,000 respectively.