Sports
Shuttlers give glimmer of hope to Nepal
Nepal advanced to the quarter-finals of men’s team event in badminton while women’s team succumbed to defeat in the first round of Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Sunday.Nepal advanced to the quarter-finals of men’s team event in badminton while women’s team succumbed to defeat in the first round of Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Sunday.
The men’s team comprising of Ratnajit Tamang, Dipesh Dhami and Nabin Shrestha registered a 3-1 win over Pakistan. Nepal will meet Chinese Taipei in the quarter-finals on Monday.
Tamang beat Muhammad Irfan Saeed Bhatti 21-12, 21-11, Dhami saw off Azeem Sarwar 21-16, 21-10 while Shrestha lost to Rizwan Azam 21-13, 18-21, 15-21. In the doubles, Tamang and Dhami beat Rizwan and Kashif Ali Sulheri 21-17, 17-21, 21-5.
Nepal badminton coach Jayanta Kumar Shrestha said the victory over Pakistan in doubles was a big achievement for his team. “Pakistan are a much better team than we are. We had not never been able to beat them in the doubles in the past. We are taking it a very positive sign,” said Shrestha.
Women shuttlers Nangsal Devi Tamang, Jessica Gurung, Amita Giri and Rashila Maharjan lost 3-2 to Maldives. Tamang defeated FN Abdul Razzaq 21-17, 21-15 and Gurung saw off AN Abdul Razzaq 21-15, 23-25, 21-17. The third competition of singles saw Maharjan go down against Neela Najeeb. During two doubles matches, Tamang and Gurung lost to Najeeb and AN Razzaq 21-19, 19-21, 21-17 while Giri and Maharjan went down 21-13, 21-11 against FN Razzaq and Moosa.
Taekwondo
Taekwondo failed to live up to its billing on the first day. Nepal lost all three poomsae matches against Chinese Taipei opponents. In the men’s individual event Kamal Shrestha (7.510 points) lost to Chen Ching (8.380) in the round-of-16. Parbati Gurung (7.540 points) was defeated by Wenhsuan Liao (8.100) in women’s individual event.
In the women’s team poomsae, Nepal entered the quarter-finals after they enjoyed walkover from Uzbekistan. They could have confirmed at least a medal had they defeated Chinese Taipei in the quarter-finals. But the team consisting of Nita Gurung, Sina Maden Limbu and Parbati Gurung earned 7.420 points against 8.190 of the Chinese Taipei team. Nepali team was making their debut in the event at the Asiad.
Despite the defeat, Nepal’s poomsae coach Norbu Lama was satisfaction with the team’s performance against the top team of Asia.
“It was our first participation in the Asiad and we were up against a tough team. Taipei are among top four teams of the world,” said Lama adding training in Korea helped improve the team’s standard.
Wushu
Bijay Sinjali finished 14th in men’s changquan event participated in by 17 players. Sinjali earned 8.25 points and finished ahead of players from Afghanistan, Yemen and Pakistan. Chinese wushuka Sun Peiyuan claimed the first gold of the Asian in the event with 9.57 points. The women’s 12th South Asian Games gold medallist Nima Gharti Magar was languishing second from bottom in women’s nanquan. She collected 8.70 points and bettered her SAG record of 8.43 points. She is yet to compete in all-round which will be played on Monday. Chinese Tang Lu topped the standings with 9.75 points.
Wrestling
All three Nepali wrestlers made early exits from wrestling after losing first round fights. Bhagwati Teli Shah lost the men’s 57kg freestyle fight 10-0 against Iran’s Reza Atrinagharchi. Suresh Chunara lost to Japan’s Yuhi Fujinami 10-0 in 74kg freestyle while Saroj Yadav also lost 10-0 against Batmagni Batchuluun of Mongolia in the 65kg men’s freestyle. Nepal was participating in the discipline for the first time since 1998 Asiad.
Tennis
Nepal crashed out of the first round matches in the singles event. Abhishek Bastola lost to Lingh Giang Trinh of Vietnam 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 and Samrakshyak Bhusan Bajracharya was sent packing by Rifqi Fitriadi of Indonesia 6-2, 6-2 in the men’s singles first round matches. In the women’s singles, Mahika Rana went down 6-0, 6-1 to Csilla Fodor of Vietnam and Mayanka lost to Chong Eudice Wong of Hong Kong 6-0, 6-1. Mahika and Pranab Khanal teamed up in the mixed doubles but lost to Pak Long Yeung and Ling Zhang of Hong Kong 6-0, 6-1. Another mixed doubles match saw Nepal’s Anne Mathema and Samrakshyak Bhusan Bajracharya lost to Eudice Wong Chong and Chun Hun Wong of Hong Kong 6-0, 6-1. Only Rana sisters Mahika and Mayanka in the women’s doubles and Samrakshyak and Abhishek in the men’s doubles are left to play in the Asiad.
Fencing
Nepal’s Kamala Shrestha and Rabina Thapa lost their preliminary round matches on Sunday. Shrestha lost four games and won one. She beat Ariunzaya Yundendorj of Mongolian 5-0. She however lost 5-0 to Norika Tamura of Japan, 5-0 against Au Sin Ying of Hong Kong, 5-1 against Qian Jiarui of China and 5-4 against Bui Thi Thu Ha of Vietnam. She could have made to the quarter-finals had she earned one more points against the Vietnamese player. Rabina Thapa failed to post a single win, losing to Diah Permatasari of Indonesia 5-0, Shihomi Fukushima of Japan 5-0, Jisu Yoon of South Korea 5-0, Linly Chhay of Cambodia 5-1 and Rafiei Delcheh Taezeh of Iran 5-0.
It was the second participation of Nepali in fencing at the Asian after 2014. Fencing coach Abhishek Karki rued that Kamala missed a wonderful chance to make it to the quarter-finals due to her inexperience. Despite the poor showing, the coach was upbeat over the overall performance of his players due to the 20-day training in South Korea.
Shooting
Shooters Sushmita Nepal and Sushe Chaudhary finished bottom of the 10m air rifle mixed team qualification rounds. The shooters earned collective 776.4 points. In all 22 teams were in fray in the event. Chinese Taipei team claimed gold with 829.8 points. China ended up in silver and India in bronze. Nepal were entering the mixed event for the first time in Asiad.