While Nepal bagged the first medal in shooting after the 8th SAG and entered the semifinals of handball, Nepal lost to Pakistan in volleyball and ended their misery in hockey with the 0-24 loss at the hands of hosts Bangladesh. [break]
Semifinal loss in basketball
Nepal lost to Afghanistan in the semifinal of basketball during the ongoing SAG on Wednesday at the Basketball Indoor Stadium, Dhonmondy.
The physically and technically strong Afghans outclassed Nepal and took the game home at the score of 107-34.
Following the loss, Nepal will now play for bronze medal.
Golf
Nepali golfer Rupak Acharya secured eighth position in the first round of the golf tournament during the 11th SAG on Wednesday. Altogether 28 golfers have competed in golf first round at the Kurmitola Golf Club.
Playing in a stroke-play format, Rupak carded three over 75, the best among the Nepali amateur golfers. Tashi Tsering registered nine over 81 while Tashi Ghale scored 12 over 84 and Bishnu Prasad Sharma shot 15-over 87. In the team event, Nepal are in fifth position with a total score of 240 points.
Except the Maldives, all the other South Asian countries are participating in the tournament. Only three best scores account for the team total. Bangladesh lead the team event, where Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan follow them. Bhutan stand sixth and Afghanistan are at the bottom.
Injured judokas to return on Feb 8
Injured judokas Ramesh Magar and Kaluman Tamang, who have been receiving treatment after sustaining injuries in the elevator breakdown, are recuperating at the Square Hospital.
"We had a dressing on their wounds and they are healing well," said Dr Bullanda Thapa, one of the doctors in Nepal´s SAG Mission. "If everything goes well, we are planning to send them home on February 8."
Nine Nepali players were injured in a lift shaft fall at the Imperial Hotel on January 29. Among them, Kaluman and Ramesh underwent surgery as they suffered ligament injury in their left legs.
Nepal gain consolation win in ´unfortunate´ run
Nepal achieved a consolation win in men´s football during the 11th South Asian Games defeating Bhutan 2-0 at the Bangabandhu Stadium on Wednesday. Nepal have never lost to Bhutan in all age group international matches.
Anil Gurung scored both the goals for Nepal. Anil scored in the 33rd minute with a clever attempt from just outside the box and added another goal in the 72nd minute in the pass off Santosh Sahukhala.
Nepal are out of the contest as they lost the group stage matches against hosts Bangladesh and the Maldives. However, the victory against Bhutan could provide some relief to Nepali booters.
Nepal Coach Yogambar Suwal termed Nepal´s run during the SAG as ´unfortunate´. "This win gives us some relief, but overall we have been unsuccessful in Dhaka," said Suwal. "We were not taking the last match lightly and we were playing for a face saving win and we at least succeeded in it," added Suwal.
Suwal was less interested in explaining the game against Bhutan and talked more about the first two games. "We were on ground to defeat Bangladesh in the opener and it was necessary to win. Probably, it created pressure on the boys and we failed to deliver," said Suwal.
He claimed that the referee´s decisions of awarding penalty against them in the second match created huge pressure. He claimed that the referee´s decision was not fair in the match against Maldives. "In my footballing career I had not witnessed such a stupid decision," said Suwal. "It was an unfair decision and put my boys under pressure," added Suwal.
Suwal accepted that his players´ feeble performance was fifty percent responsible for the loss against Maldives and Bangladesh. "We had created sufficient chances but our boys failed to convert them," said Suwal.
Nepal march into handball semis
Nepal entered the semifinals of handball on Wednesday.
Nepal, who lost to Bangladesh but defeated Afghanistan in their group B match on Tuesday, marched into the semifinals after the hosts thrashed Afghanistan 48-18 in the group match on Wednesday.
Nepal will take on Pakistan in the semifinals. Nepal had lost to India and Bangladesh during the Second SAF Handball Championship 2000 held in Dhaka.
Volleyball
Nepal lost to Pakistan 16-44 in men´s kabaddi, even though they have already secured a bronze in the event by defeating Sri Lanka on Tuesday.
Nepal´s performance against Pakistan remained poor in every sense. Nepal had defeated Pakistan in the Eighth SAG and lost to them in the Ninth SAG.
Shooting fetches bronze
Nepal secured a bronze medal in men´s 10-meter air rifle event on Wednesday.
Nepali shooter Tikaram Shrestha scored 578 points while Chanas Rai scored 574 points out of 600. Krishna Bahadur Ghorasaeni scored 567 points to make Nepal´s total 1719.
Bangladesh won the gold medal in the event with total points of 1775 and India secured the silver medal with 1764 points.
The top eight scorers were picked up for the individual round and Tikaram qualified for the event. However, he failed to better his scoring and remained at the bottom.
The team´s medal is the first shooting medal for Nepal after the Eighth SAG held in Kathmandu in 1999. Nepal had won two bronze in the men´s team event and a bronze in women´s team event in 1999.
Nepal´s Anita Shrestha had won gold in the Fifth SAG, Colombo in 1991, where women´s team had claimed a silver medal as well as a bronze. Likewise, the women´s team claimed a bronze in the Seventh SAG Madras in 1995.
Hockey
Nepal´s misery in hockey ended in the South Asian Games along with a 24-0 loss at the hands of hosts Bangladesh on Wednesday.
Nepal lost their all four matches and conceded 79 goals and scored a single one in the round robin match. Nepal lost 21-0 to India, 19-0 to Pakistan, 15-1 to Sri Lanka and 24-0 to the hosts Bangladesh.
Dipendra Aire scored the only goal for Nepal against Sri Lanka. Nepal was playing international hockey after 15 years.
Earlier, Nepal had participated in the Seventh SAG in 1995 and conceded 53 goals and scored only one goal in three matches played in the group stage.
Nepal lose to Pakistan in cricket
Nepal lost their third consecutive match in SAG cricket on Wednesday. Pakistan defeated Nepal by 91 runs in the match held at the Mirpur Cricket Ground.
Pakistan were elected to bat first and put up 173 runs losing only 2 wickets in 20 overs. In reply, Nepal could manage only 82 runs in the stipulated 20 overs. [break]
Openers Umar Amin and Ali Waqas gave a solid start to Pakistan with a stand of 75 runs.
Nepali wicketkeeper Subash Khakurel stumped Umar Amin off skipper Gyanendra Malla´s ball. Umar scored the highest 53 runs off 31 balls for Pakistan. Pakistan lost their second wicket at 10.2 overs when they were at 89 runs as Ali Waqas (27 runs) was caught by substitute Naresh Budhair off Bhuwan Karki´s ball.
However, Ali Asad and Adil Amin took Pakistan to a big score against Nepal. Adil was dropped by Akash Gupta in his own first ball and Adil remained unbeaten on 35 runs while Ali Asad was unbeaten on 45 runs.
In reply, Nepal´s start was very weak and they lost their first wicket in the third over. As opener Subash Khakurel was out only for 2 runs, Anil Mandal and Pradeep Aire gave some hope to Nepal with a 39-run stand but their partnership ended at 11.3 overs. Anil was out for 15 runs while Pradeep contributed 21 runs for Nepal.
Captain Gyanendra Malla was unbeaten for 20 runs but the wickets kept on falling at the other end. Binod Bhandari, Sagar Pun and Akash Gupta were out for nought. Amrit Bhattarai added 7 runs while Bhuwan Karki was run out after hitting 5 runs. Rupesh Shreevastava was unbeaten one one when the game ended.
Kamaran Hussen and Nayyar Abbas took two wickets each while Mohammad Ramiz and Adil Amin took a wicket each for Pakistan.
Cricket is included for the first time in the regional sports extravaganza and five nations -- Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Maldives -- are participating in the event with their under-21 teams.
Prithu injured
Nepali all-rounder Preethu Baskota injured himself while fielding against Pakistan on Wednesday. Preethu injured his right palm while attempting to take a catch.
Doctor of Nepali SAG Mission Bullanda Thapa informed that Preethu had cut his palm and doctors had stitched the wounds. After he suffered the injury, Preethu left the field and he didn´t come to bat.
"There is cut in the palm, we´ve suggested him not to play next match," said Thapa.
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