Nepal’s hope of striking medal in karate and boxing, two of the most successful events in the Asian Games for Nepal, ended in disappointment during the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia on Monday.

Another successful event for Nepal in Asiad, taekwondo have already returned home empty handed. Nepal have so far won 23 medals in Asiad—three from karate, six from boxing and remaining 14 from taekwondo. But all three events failed to win a single medal in Indonesia. Nepal fielding eight players in both boxing and karate while taekwondo had included 14.

Karateka Anu Adhikari came closed to winning a bronze but lost the women’s U-50kg division bout to Japan’s Mihahara Miho on Monday. Adhikari played three games winning two of them before setting up a bronze-medal clash against Miho. Adhikari was however no match to Miyo, the World Championship bronze medallist, as the Japanese won the lopsided bout 9-0. The Japanese slammed two ippon and three yuko.

In the pre-quarterfinal match, Adhikari beat Cheung I Ching of Macau 5-1 and lost the last-eight match against Shiaushuang Gu of Chinese Taipei 7-2. Gu defeated the Japanese Miyo in the semi-final and eventually claimed gold paving way for Adhikari for a repechage clash. In the repechage she defeated Laos’ Sirivimon Sirimoungkhoune 3-1 to set up the bronze clash against the Japanese.

Despite putting valiant display in the quarter-final against Gu, the 2010 South Asian Games (Sag) silver medallist was nicely poised at 2-2 before conceding five points in the last 10 seconds. Adhikari conceded ippon and wajza-ari in the last moment. Adhikari, who also played in the Incheon Asiad, said that she gave her best. “I was determined to win medal and gave it all. The Japanese is world No 1 player and she put all her full effort as well to win a medal. I should have done better in the dying moments, though,” said Adhikari.

Adhikari said that she was confident despite playing against the experienced opponent due to proper training both at home and abroad in Japan. She added: “I failed here but look forward to clinching gold at the Sag,” added the 23-year-old. Karate coach Dipak Shrestha also lauded Adhikari but lamented on the lack of better exposure as the stumbling block for success. “Adhikari played really well. To play at this level against tough opponents of Asia is really praiseworthy. We take positives out of this performance,” said Shrestha.    

 Another Nepali karateka Diwas Shrestha lost 8-0 to Zabiollah Poorshab Iran in the men’s U-84kg weight division. Along with karate, Nepal’s boxing campaign also ended in Indonesia with defeat of Dipak Shrestha in the men’s 75kg weight division. Shrestha lost 5-0 to Kan Chiewai of Chinese Taipei.

Table Tennis

Men’s team beat Laos 3-1 but lost to North Korea 3-0 in the preliminary matches on Monday. Amar Lal beat Duangtavane Sathathone 8-11, 11-7, 11-4, 117 before seeing off Sonpasith Mosangsinh 9-11, 11-9, 11-6, 9-11, 11-3. In between Santoo Shrestha also dispatched Mosangsinh 11-6, 11-3, 11-9 while Deep Saun lost 11-8, 8-11, 11-9, 11-6.

 Against North Korea, Santoo lost to Ji Song An 11-4, 11-6, 11-6, Malla lost to Yu Song Ham 11-6, 11-9, 11-7 and Deep Saun went down 11-3, 11-9, 12-10 against Sin Hyok Pak. The Nepali men’s team had lost to China on Sunday.

The Nepali women’s team lost their games against Hong Kong and Vietnam 3-0. Against Hong Kong, Nabita Shrestha lost 11-7, 11-3, 11-8, to Ching Wan Li, Swechchha Nembang went down 1-4, 11-2, 11-4 to Wing Nam NG and Rabina Maharjan conceded a 11-6, 11-1, 11-1 defeat against Wai Yam Minnie Soo. In their second game against Vietnam, Nembang went down 11-8, 11-8, 11-4 to Hoang Tuong Giang Phan, Shrestha lost 11-6, 11-2, 11-13, 11-9 to Thi Nga Nguyen and Maharjan lost 11-6, 11-5, 11-4 to Khoa Dieu Khanh Nguyen. On Sunday, Nepal had conceded defeats against Singapore and Malaysia.

Athletics

Som Bahadur Kumal sets new National Record in 800m with timing of 1:50.25. Breaks previous record of 1:50.60 set by Dhaniram Chaudhary in 1995 SAF Games, Madras. He finished overall 13 in the 26-men field.

Sprinter Saraswati Bhattarai bettered her person record in the women’s 800m. She clocked 2 minute 12.85 seconds to better her timing of 2:13.99 minute. Rajkumari Pandey holds the national record in the event with the timing of 2:11.05 which she set during the 1989 Islamabad Saf Games.

Bhattarai finished in the 13th position among 20 athletes. Only two South Asain athletes, both from Sri Lanka, made it to the final rounds. Athletics coach Amiri Prasad Yadav lauded Bhattarai’s performance. “It was the best performance of the season and we must appreciate the timing considering the preparation of the Nepali team,” he said.

Sepaktakraw

Nepal ended men’s regu campaign without a single win in group stage. Nepal went down 21-5, 21-15 against India in their last Group ‘B’ match. Earlier, Nepal lost to Malaysia, South Korea and China. Nepali sepaktakraw team comprised of Gobinda Magar, Rabin Bhattarai, Rupesh Sunar and Sanjit Dhimal. Nepal are yet to compete in quadrant event.

Squash

Nepal lost to South Korea 3-0 in the men’s team event. Amrit Thapa Magar lost 11-2, 11-2, 11-4 to Youngjo Ko, Rajendra Shakya went down 11-0, 11-5, 11-5 to Lee Seungtaek before Arhant Keshar Simha suffered a 11-4, 11-3, 11-4 defeat against Se Hyun Lee. Nepal previously lost 3-0 against Pakistan on Monday. Nepal are in Group ‘A’  and will play Japan on Tuesday, Philippines on Wednesday and Hong Kong on Thursday.