Paragliding appears set to break Nepal’s medal drought in the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta as the men’s team rose to second position in the Cross Country event with just one round remaining.

The Nepali team comprising of Bijay Gautam, Bimal Adhikari, Sushil Gurung, Ukesh Gurung and Bimla Thapa added 2798 points in the fourth and penultimate round on Tuesday. Overall the Nepali team has 8591 points going into the fifth and final round on Wednesday. Japan, who earned 3298 points on Tuesday, stay on top of the pile with a total score of 9359. South Korea are in third place on 8,000 points.

In the women’s Cross Country, Nepal stay in sixth position after scoring 216 points in the fourth round on Tuesday. All all, the Nepali women’s team has scored 1162 points. South Korea lead the standings with a total score of 4339 points followed by Japan, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. Prativa Bhujel, Trisha Bomjam and Sabita Tamang are representing Nepal in the women’s Cross Country event.

Nepal had been pinning their hopes of at least a medal in either karate, boxing or taekwondo but all three sports finished its campaign without any success. Nepal have so far won 23 medals in Asiad—three from karate, six from boxing and 14 from taekwondo. But the games that fetched medals in the past all went medal-less this time.

Volleyball

Nepali men’s volleyball team tasted first ever victory in Asiad on Tuesday as they beat Malaysia 26-28, 25-16, 30-28, 25-19. Already out of the main competition after losing both their group games, Nepal are playing against the eliminated teams that will determine their Asian rankings. Nepal will play against  Sri Lanka on Thursday.

Before Tuesday, Nepal had never ever won a single set, let alone a game, in Asiad. Nepal are competing in Asiad for the first time since 1986. Before that they played in 1982 (New Delhi) and 1978 (Bangkok). Nepal coach Jagdish Bhatta termed the victory as historic. “We are back in Asiad after a long time and out primary objective is to improve on our rankings and this victory will tremendously help in our cause,” said Bhatta.

Kurash

Upendra Thapa opened the men’s below-66kg division match with a battling 1-0 win over Syed Samullah of Pakistan. Thapa, however, was soundly beaten in the round-of-16 match. Thapa lost 10-0 to Ruslan Buriev of Uzbekistan. Bhagwati Majhi could not even stand for a minute in her round-of-32 match against Chiawen Tsou of Chinese Taiper, losing the women’s below-52kg division bout 10-0.  With the defeats, Nepal bow out of the event. Nepal had fielded just two players in the discipline, which is making its debut in the Asiad.

Squash

Nepali men’s squash team was crushed 3-0 by Japan on Tuesday. Arhant Keshar Simha lost 11-6, 11-3, 11-7 to Tomotaka Endo, Amrit Thapa Magar went down 11-0, 11-5, 11-5 against Ryunosuke Tsukue and Gyanu Chaudhary lost 11-3, 11-8, 11-4 to Ryosei Kobayashi. The Nepali team will next play against Philippines and Hong Kong.

Skateboard

Neris Thapa finished in 15th position in the men’s street skateboard with 14.3 points. Sanggoe Darma Tanjung of Indonesia collected the top score of 31.3 points followed by Keyaki Ike (28.3) of Japan and Oat Athiwat of Thailand. In all, top eight players advanced to the final round.

Sepaktakraw

The Nepali men’s team lost 21-4, 21-3 to Vietnam in their pre-quarterfinal Quadrant Group B match on Tuesday. Govinda Magar, Rabin Bhattarai, Rupesh Sunar and Sanjit Dhimal formed the Nepali team. Nepal also crashed out of the regu event after suffering defeats against India, Malaysia, South Korea and China.

Athletics

National Sports Council member secretary and Nepal’s Chef-de-mission Keshav Kumar Bista on Tuesday took serious reservation about the late withdrawal of sprinter Yam Sajan Sunar from the 200m race. Sunar, who ran the 100m on Saturday, did not turn up for the 200m on Monday informing the management of his intentions the previous evening. “He had informed in writing that was unable to run the 200m race due to some kind injury to his leg,” said Bista. “Conspicuously, he said he was in good shape when I met him after his 100m race on Saturday. We will look into the matter seriously and if found irresponsible we will take action.”

Som Bahadur Kumal finished 13th in 800m on Tuesday with the timing of 1:50.25.