Nepal’s hopes of reaching the semifinals of women’s cricket were dashed after a humiliating 10-wicket defeat against Japan. Japan won the toss and invitated Nepal to bat first. Japan unexpectedly restricted Nepal to 62 runs in the allotted 20 overs.[break]
Roshani Bohara’s 16 runs off 24 balls turned out to be highest in the Nepali innings as captain Nira Rajopadhyay and Nary Thapa returned to the pavilion without scoring. Bohara struck two boundaries before getting out in the bowling of Suda Ajsuko.
Rashmi Sharma was the only other Nepali batswoman to score in double digits. Sharma scored 13 runs off 40 balls. Meanwhile, Binu Budha Magar scored nine runs while Sarita Magar scored six runs. Miyami Sijuka took two wickets for Japan to restrict the Nepali innings.
In reply, Japan met the total in 11.4 overs without losing any wicket. Opener Kuribasi scored a run-a-ball 32 while Yamamoto Mariko scored 29 runs off 14 balls.
Nepali team captain Rajopadhyay cited the last minute arrival of coach Janga Bahadur Rana and two key players, Sita Rana Magar and Rekha Rawal, at the venue for the poor performance. The trio arrived in Guangzhou only on Saturday because of air ticket problems. “We could not make a plan as the coach arrived late due to ticket problems, and the girls took the opponents too lightly,” said Rajopadhyay.
Nepal will take on the losers of the match between Hong Kong and Bangladesh on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the hosts China thrashed Malaysia by 55 runs in the opening match of women’s cricket.
JUDO: Joshi loses first match
Nepal couldn’t get off to a successful start in the 16th edition of the Asian Games (Asiad) as well. Nepal’s Asiad tour, which commenced with a heated argument between National Sports Council and Nepal Olympic Committee officials over the chef de mission on the inaugural day of the sporting extravaganza on Friday, suffered an early setback as judo player Rajan Joshi lost Nepal’s first match on Saturday.
Joshi lost to his Tajik opponent Igbolov Shaukat on the basis of ‘ippon’ in the above 100 kg weight category in Guangzhou. Nepal Judo Association President Deepak Harsha Bajracharya said he was satisfied with Joshi’s performance despite losing full points. Joshi had won bronze medal in the 11th South Asian Games held earlier this year.
“He is quite young and this is only his second international tournament. His performance was good and we have hopes from him in the future. We were not expecting medals from him. We were preparing him for the future,” said Bajracharya.
Four judo players are representing Nepal in the Asiad that kicked off on Friday. Nepal’s other three judo matches are scheduled for Monday. Deepak Krishna Shrestha will take on a Vietnamese player in men’s U-73 kg. In the women’s section, Ranju Rai will face Japan in the the U-57 kg weight category event while Sushila Adhikari will compete with the hosts China in the U-52 kg category.
TENNIS: Lissanevitch, Rana reach quarterfinals
Nepali women tennis players achieved success even as seven other sports disappointed on the second day of the 16th Asian Games on Saturday.
Aslesha Lissanevitch and Malika Rana entered the quarterfinals of the women’s team event in tennis. Lissanevitch and Rana both won their singles matches, and teamed up to defeat their Mongolian opponents.
Lissanevitch, the youngest athlete in the Nepali squad, won the first singles match against Ganabat of Mongolia. Lisanevitch lost the first set 2-6 but claimed the last two 6-3, 6-1 in a contest that lasted one-and-a-half hours.
“I played good tennis and I’m waiting for the quarterfinal match,” said the 14-year-old tennis ace from Nepal.
Meanwhile, Rana thrashed Adriane Bialeg 6-3, 7-5 in the second singles draw of the event and gave the same response as Lissanevitch. “I’m happy with the victory and excited for the next round,” said the 24-year-old who has three previous experiences of international tournaments.
Lissanevitch and Rana will take on Japan in the quarterfinals of the team event.
Meanwhile, Jitendra Pariyar and Kumar Adhikari lost to Chinese players in the first round of the men’s team event. Pariyar and Adhikari both lost their singles matches at the score of 6-0, 6-0. They lost the doubles match 6-1, 6-2 to their Chinese opponents.
SHOOTING: Disappointing performance
Nepali shooters put up a disappointing performance in the 16th Asian Games on Saaturdy. Sneha Rana scored 385 points in the women’s 10 m air rifle while Asmita Rai scored 383 points and Juhi Chaudhari collected 378 points. All three players qualified for the Olympic qualifying round. Meanwhile, Chanas Rai scored 370 points in the men’s 10 m air rifle. Chinese shooters bagged gold medals in both the events. Nepali shooters said they could not adjust with the lighting system of the shooting range at the Asian Games.
CHESS: Mixed results
Nepali chess players received mixed results in the 16th Asian Games on Saturday. Nepal champion Badri Lal Nepali lost his first match to Al Khatim, the grandmaster from Qatar. However, Nepali played a draw against a FIDE Master from Kyrgyzstan.
Bilam Lal Shrestha, who recently became a FIDE Master, also lost his first match to Meghani Hassan of Iran, but defeated Khampo of Laos in the second match to collect a point.
Meanwhile, Asmita Adhikari defeated a women’s FIDE Master from Tajikistan in the first round to open her account but lost to a Bangladeshi player in the second round. Another Nepali woman chess player, Monalisa Khambu lost both her matches on Saturday.
TABLE TENNIS
Nepali men’s and women’s table tennis teams lost their first matches in the Asiad on Saturday. Nepali men’s team lost 3-0 to Japan, while South Korea outclassed Nepal in the women’s team event.
SOFT TENNIS
Nepal’s hope of advancing into the quarterfinals of soft tennis in the team event is still alive despite losing two matches on Saturday.
The Nepali team had got a bye during the draw but lost against South Korea and Chinese Taipei in the following matches. Nepal lost both the matches in straight sets 2-0.
Nepal will now take on the Philippines and Mongolia on Sunday in the remaining team event matches.
The team’s senior player Ashok Singh said they couldn’t win as they faced world’s leading teams like South Korea and Chinese Taipei in the beginning. “There are possibilities for us to win in the upcoming matches now,” he said.
Besides Singh, other members of Nepal’s soft tennis team are Sanjay Nepal, Dushyant Thapa, Manoj Subba and Sohan Dhaubhadel.
WUSHU
Nepali wushu players put up a dismal show on Saturday in the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou.
Bidya Maharjan faced defeats in the nan chuan and nan tau events of wushu thaulo. Maharjan remained at the bottom of nan chuan among 14 players. She also finished last in the nan tau event among 12 players. Bikash Rai finished eighth among 16 players in men’s chhan chuan.
Raj Kumar Rasaili, the 10th South Asian Games gold medalist, lost to a Thai player in the men’s 56 kg sansau event. Rasaili, who is suffering from a boil on his back, lost the first two rounds of the event.
However, Jharana Gurung advanced into the quarterfinals of the women’s 60 kg sansau event defeating Khandokar Mask Basona of Bangladesh. She will face an opponent from Laos in the quarterfinal, where a victory will confirm at least a bronze medal for Gurung.
Related story
CoAS Sharma inaugurates 1st COAS National Lawn Tennis Tournamen...
