SPORTS

Kathmandu Sunday July 23, 2000 Sharawan 08,  2057.

Karate, kick boxing enter Crown Prince Cup semis

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, July 22 - The semifinal line-ups of all individual events for both male and female in karate and kick-boxing were settled Saturday in the first Crown Prince Cup national karate kick-boxing tournament.

In the tournament, participated by 258 players from all over Nepal, Bagmati players, as expected were head and shoulder above the rest in either event on the penultimate day by virtue of their technical excellence.

In the men's 50-kg karate, Ramesh Chaudhary of Bagmati was virtually unstoppable against his quarterfinal opponent from Bheri, Krishna Chaudhary, spotting string of perfect punches and kicks. He quickly finished off the bout, winning 6 points against one of Krishna Chaudhary.

The other contests in the event were more competitive though. Kashi Nath Dhamal of Sagarmatha got the better of Bijay Rai from Mechi only because of a couple points towards the close while Kishan Singh Saud of Mahakali held on to big points he earned in the initial stage against Dilli Bahadur Dangi of Rapti, which eventually proved decisive.

To meet Saud in the semifinal, Deepak Kiyal of Narayani, meanwhile overcame the strong challenge of Santa Gurung, Gandaki.

Ravi Maharjan, considered as the best player in the 60-kg weight category, did not have to toil too much to make it to the last four either. His well-timed punches and powerful kicks were simply too much for his opponent from Seti, Ramesh Bohara, to resist, ending the match before three minutes.

Maharjan's semifinal opponent will be Bishal Thapa of Bheri, who defeated Hom Bahadur Thapa of Nepal Police. In other quarterfinals of 60-kg class, Ram Limbu (Koshi) beat Min Kumar Lama (Gandaki) and Narayan Wanta (Mechi) put off the challenge of Rabindra Shrestha (Narayani).

In the women's 48-kg class, there was a fierce contest between Indu Meche of Mechi and Nepal Police's Sarita Sapkota with both the players matching each other blow by blow. It was only towards the close that Sapkota failed to block couple of punches, sealing her fate as Meche progress through to the semifinals.

Bagmati's Manju Ale, however, had much easy time against as she subdued the challenge of Ganga Thapa of Karnali. Pratikshya Rai (Koshi) and Devi Pun (Lumbini) were the other semifinalists in that category, who defeated Tara Gurung (Gandaki) and Shova Basnet (Sagarmatha) respectively.

Kick-boxing

Ramesh Yonzon (Bagmati) and Rameshwor Deuja (Royal Nepal Army) posted comfortable win over their respective opposition Umesh Shrestha (Sagarmatha) and Deep Kiyal (Narayani) to reach the semifinal in the men's 55-kg category.

Mukesh Baruwal (Karnali) and Madhav Ghimire (Lumbini) filled up the semifinal line-up in the same category, getting better of Bir Bahadur Raneti (Seti) and Dhruba Bikram Rana respectively.

In the women's 53-kg, Sushmita Kandel of Seti shrugged off her defeat in the karate event earlier on the day with a comprehensive victory over Kranti Bhandari of Janakpur for a place in the semifinals.

Lila Singh (Mahakali), Sumnita Rai (Bagmati), Anuradha Lama (Narayani) also won their respective bout against Sujata Gautam (Dhaulagiri),  Deepa Thapa (Lumbini) and Bhagwati Shrestha (Gandaki) to join Kandel in the semifinals.

Other semifinalists:

Men's karate (55-kg)- Chandra Krishna Prajapati (Bagmati), Raju Sherchan (Lumbini), Vivek Rana (Dhaulagiri), Bikram Meche (Mechi).

Men's (65-kg)- Bijaya Tamang (Army), Jung Bdr Thing (Lumbini), Chitra Bdr Rana (Narayani), Dilli Pd Rai (Koshi).

Men's (70-kg)- Naresh Shrestha (Dhaulagiri), Iman Singh Lama (Bagmati), Fatta Gurung (Mechi), Krishna Chandra Yadav (Sagarmatha).

Men's Open class- Raju Adhikari (Bagmati), Suresh Adhikari (Narayani), Shyam Shrestha (Dhaulagiri), Man Bdr Dhimal (Mechi).

Women's karate (53-kg)- Sunita Tamang (Koshi), Lila Singh (Mahakali), Kalpana Basnet (Sagarmatha), Krishna KC (Bagmati).

Women's (60-kg)- Sunita Maharjan (Bagmati), Jyoti GC (Karnali), Kunti Gurung (Koshi), Ganga Adhikari (Dhaulagiri).

Men's kick-boxing (50-kg)- Kishore Sapkota (Janakpur), Ajit Kumal (Narayani), Bhagwan Gurung (Lumbini), Buddhi Shrestha (Bagmati).

Men's (65-kg)- Santosh Khadka (Bagmati), Narendra Ayyar (Mahakali), Sushi Ghimire (Narayani), KL Chaudhary (Karnali).

Men's Open class- Ashok Pahadi (Army), Rajendra Chudal (Mechi), Ram Sharan Twanti (Bagmati), Naresh Shrestha (Dhaulagiri).

Women's (48-kg)- Rameshwori Bakhunchhe (Bagmati), Parbati Giri (Narayani), Durga Dhami (Sagarmatha), Reena Gurung (Janakpur).

Women's (60-kg)- Meena Kumari Tamang (Bheri), Dil Kumari Shrestha (Lumbini), Sita KC (Dhaulagiri), Bishnu Maya Lama (Narayani).