Departmental teams continue dominance in athletics

DHANGADHI, Feb 29: Departmental teams maintained their stranglehold in athletics on Wednesday during the fourth day of the Sixth National Games being held in the far-western region.



Nepal Police Club (NPC) won three golds and Armed Police Force (APF) won two golds out of the total five golds available on the third day of athletics competition. [break]



Pramila Rijal fetched the first gold on the third day of athletics for APF in women´s 400m race at the Dhangadhi Stadium. Rijal, who holds the national record of 59.2 seconds in the event, finished the race in 1 minute 00.01 seconds. Her club mate Dil Maya Karki won silver with a timing of 1:02:09. Manisha Adhikari of Western Region settled for bronze in the event clocking 1:04:01.



Tilak Ram Tharu of NPC continued his dominance in athletics to clinch gold in men´s 400m race. Tharu clocked 49.6 seconds to win his second gold after having claimed his first gold on Tuesday in men´s 100m. Siddhant Adhikari of NPC won silver with a timing of 50.9s while Bimal Basnet of Western Region settled for bronze clocking 51.8s.



Men´s 5,000m race was a two-man show between Kiran Malla and Laxman Malla Thakuri. The two players of APF took the lead from the beginning and outsprinted other opponents during the final phase of the race.



Malla finished the race in 15 minutes 40.02 seconds to claim gold while Thakuri secured silver with a timing of 15:43:09. Minrashi BK of Western Region was five seconds behind Thakuri to settle for bronze with a timing of 15:48.06.



After the victory, an elated Malla said, “Although I belong to Far Western Region I got an opportunity to compete in the National Games from APF.”



“I am really glad to win gold in my home ground,” added Malla, who was competing in the National Games for the first time.



Ramprit Chaudhary added another gold for NPC in men´s 400m hurdles. Chaudhary finished first with a timing of 58.00 seconds. Santosh Shrestha of APF came second clocking 59.20s while Dhirendra Chaudhary of NPC finished third with a timing of 59.4s.



Narendra Jung Shahi of NPC won gold in men´s discus throw covering a distance of 31.03m. Talisingh Tamrakar (29.79m) of Far Western Region secured silver while Januram Chaudhary (29.11m) of Central Region settled for bronze.



With the completion of the third day in athletics events, NPC leads the medal tally with eight golds. APF is second with seven golds while Western Region, Mid Western Region, Far Western Region and PLA have secured one gold each.

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