Lama, Wangchuk set up snooker final

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, July 6 - Ang Kami Lama and Tashi Wangchuk set up the Crown Prince Birthday Cup Open Snooker final, following their win over Ramesh Rana and Suraj Singh in the enterprising semifinals here Thursday.

In the first semifinal, Lama of Bouddha Snooker, who has been in consistent form in the tournament, made a promising start with the aid of 23-point break to take the opening frame at 91-9. But Ramesh Rana from Heaven’s Snooker was not to be tempted so easily, held his nerves to pull one back to level the match at 1-1 in the second frame to win it at 54-52.

He, however, found wanting thereafter as Lama surged ahead from strength to strength with string of useful breaks to extend the lead to 4-1.

While Rana’s game continued to slump, Lama overwhelmed his opponent with a stunning breaks, won the third at 99-16, fourth at 76-14 and fifth at 73-40.

With Lama in such a devastating mood, everyone might have felt Rana would succumb quickly but he, making most out of an opening took the sixth at 78-40 to prolong the rally. But Lama registering significant breaks of 21, 38 put pressure back on Rana and won the seventh and eighth frames at 84-24 and 70-44 respectively to coast to the Friday’s final.

Lama will take on Tashi Wangchuk of Chhorten Snooker, who quelled the challenge of Suraj Singh of Panorama in the nerve-racking match that went all the way to the 11th frame.

The match hanged on balance at the time much to the delight of the spectators with either player failing to dictate the terms for too long.

Wangchuk took the opening frame by 65-29 but Suraj Singh responded back with some great potting took the next two for 2-1 lead in the match. He won the second at 83-56 but it was the third frame which caught the imagination of the crowd as he took it at 110-14 with the highest break of the tournament yet-47.

As the see-saw battle continued, Wangchuk regained the lead by winning three frames in succession with the respective scores of 92-14, 124-7, 58-44.

Then it was the turn of Singh to dictate the terms, pocketing next two at 70-37 and 87-35 to level the match. And it was anybody’s match with Wangchuk taking the ninth, 87-32 and Singh winning tenth at 58-27.

After over three-hour long battle, Singh came out trumps at 90-26 in the final frame to meet Ang Kami Lama in the final.

Earlier, Billiards, Snooker and Pool Association of Nepal (BSPAN) honoured old players of the cue sport amid a special function. The chief guest, member-secretary of National Sports Council, Binod Shankar Palikhe gave away gift and certificate of honour to the players.

Those honoured on the occasion were Giridhar Lal Manandhar, Nima Lama, Kabi Keshari Basnet, Shakti Shamsher Rana, Achyut Ram Joshi, Poshan Raj Joshi, Dr Singha Bdr Basnet, Madan Singh Shah, Hira Bahadur Joshi, Komal Pande, Peter Coe, Basanta Lama, Binay Raj Pande and Sashi Raj Subedi.

The mayor of the Kathmandu Metropolis, Keshav Sthapit, BSPAN president Suraj Vaidya, managing director of Gorkha Brewery CP Khetan, a Toyota representative.

Boxing c'ships end under much fanfare

KATHMANDU, July 6 (PR) - Birthday Cup Boxing Championship concluded here today amid much fanfare and celebration as songsters and dancers from the music and entertainment world linked hands to provide inspiration to the puggilists and add colour to the function.

In the opening bout of the day Ram Chandra Thapamagar, SAF silver medallist, representing Sano Gaucharan, won the 60kg final uprooting Nirmal Kunwar of Tribhuvan Club through RSC as early in the second round. Chief Guest Paras Shah awarded the medals to the winners in this catagory.

In the 63.5kg bout that followed, another SAF silver medallist Shree Prasad Shirish representing Tribuvan Club A had a tough time against the challenge of Bal Bahadur Tamang of Jyoti Club, Dharan. Shirish was taken aback by the stocky Tamanag in the very first round as Tamang went on the offensive right from the word go. Shirish made a great comeback in the second and third when he almost threatened to knockout Tamang. But the gritty Tamang showed a lot of determination and courage as he stood firm against the Sirish onslaught. Tamanag also put a good performance in the last round to edge ahead of Shirish on points.

In a dramatic 45kg class, Laxmi Prajapati of Bhaktapur won against Mahammad Allauddin on points. For the first time in the championship, an injured player who had to leave the fight won by virtue of better points. The referee had stopped the fight midway through the last round when Prajapati started bleeding profusely.

The 48 kg catagory saw the domination posed by Ramesh Das Shrestha of Naxal Yuwa Mandol A. Shrestha won on points against another gritty fighter-Sumit KC of Kamalpokhari. KC who so far had impressed everybody, simply had no answer to the class of SAF silver medallist Ramesh Das Shrestha. The 51 kg bout was won by Bir Bahadur Basnet of Gulmi by virtue of walkover from Lokendra Bahadur Chand of Kanchanpur.

In the 54 kg final, experienced campaigner Tej Bahadur Thapa of Kamalpokhari won on points against Som Bahadur Gurung of Tribhuvan Club A. In an otherwise evely fought affair, fleetfooted Thapa dominated the second round to win the bout.

Similary, Rohini Dhital of Mahendra Police Club won on points against Hari Chandra Khadka of Tribhuvan Club A. In the 71kg catagory, Hair Singh Budal(Tribhuvan Club) defeated Mahendra Chaudhary also of Tribhuvan Club while Kamalpokhari’s Rajan Dangol took the final of 75 kg defeating Nawaraj KC of Chitawan.Similarly, Padam Singh Pant of Tribhuvan Club A defeated Pradip Neupane of Tribhuvan Club B in the 81 kg final.

The other dignitaries to distribute medals to winners in different weight catagories were Education and Sports State Minister Dilendra Prasad Badu, Sujata Koirala, President of Sushma Koirala Memorial Truest, Vice President of National Sports Council Rukma Shamsher Rana, Ambassador of Pakistan, Counsellor of Japanese Embassy, President of Nepal Boxing Association Bishnu Gopal Shrestha, and Vice President of the association Shyam Gurung.

Earlier, Bishnu Gopal Shrestha, President of Nepal Boxing Association, in his welcome speech, highlighted the need to develop boxing in the country. State Minister for Education and Sports Dilendra Prasad Badu, Member Secretary of National Sports Council(NSC) Binod Shankar Palikhe and Vice President of NSC Rukma Shamesher Rana also shed light on the occasion.

Songsters Kunti Moktan, Sanjaya Shrestha, Rajesh Payal Rai, Madan Krishna Shrestha, Nalina Chitrakar, Rima Gurung lend their melodious voice on the occasion while dance troupe from Sadhana Kala Kendra and Harati Kala Kendra performed dance sequences to keep the spectators thouroughly engaged.