Ace Institute advance to quarters

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KATHMANDU, Sept 30 – Ace Institute of Management (AIM) became the third team to enter the quarter-finals in the 2nd Amrit Trophy Basketball (ATB) Championship following their win over Learning Realm International (LRI) School on Sunday.

AIM crushed LRI 65-28 in a one sided Pool D match. AIM dominated the match right from the start as the eventual losers could not check the flurry of scores from the opposition. Other two teams to enter the quarter-finals are: Gyanodaya and Lincoln School.

Bipin Maharjan, captain of the Nepali team in the SAARC Basketball meet held earlier this year, was the star of AIM show as he scored 21 points in the match. Kamal Bista of LRI played well to reach the score of 17, out of 28 scored by his team.

Likewise, Knights defeated Nepal Commerce Campus (NCC) 54-47 in the Pool A encounter earlier on the day.

The match started on a slow note as just four points were scored in the first quarter—all by the Knights’ players. The match picked pace in the second quarter as both the teams added 14 points each.

NCC, gearing one step up in the third quarter, reduced the lead by two points. They scored 14 more points as Knights could manage only 12. However, Knights came back in the fourth quarter shutting any chance of possible NCC victory. Knights added 24 points to their tally with NCC also gathering respectable 19 more to their total.

Niraj Singh, from Knights, was the highest scorer in the match with 15 points to his credit, which included three three-pointers. Dev Lama of NCC scored 10 for NCC.

In the Pool C contest of the day, Unique A whipped Kathmandu University (KU) 78-45. The KU boys were completely outscored as Unique continued scoring points one after the other.

With a forgettable outing in the first half, the KU boys did comparatively well to salvage some respect in the second half scoring as many as 29 points. The first half score read 45-16 in favour of Unique A.

Rabindra Maharjan of Unique was the most influential player in the match with a personal score of 36 points—the second highest in a single match of the tournament so far. Strangely, Maharjan’s score of 36 did not have a single three-pointer.

Similarly, Unique A’s score of 78 is also the second highest in the tournament. The highest score was recorded by Ace Institute of Management (AIM) against Wilson Academy on Friday.

From KU, Suresh KC was the highest scorer with 11 points.

In the last match of the day, Myagdi won against Ashirwad College 60-41. The match belonged to Kam Pun of Myagdi, who emerged as the highest scorer with 23 points against his name. Tul Chandra Ghale recorded 13 points for the losing team.

Kathmandu Utsav open karate, kick-boxing

KATHMANDU, Sept 30 (PR) - Hit Man Tamang defeated Sunil Ojha to clinch the 45kg kick-boxing title at Kathmandu Utsav Open Karate, Kick-boxing Championship on Sunday.

The tournament, organised by the Everest Exhibitions at the Exhibition grounds, Bhrikutimandap, also witnessed Sanju Lama lift the women’s open title with her win over Doma Sherpa. Lalita Shahi settled for the third spot.

Similarly in the karate events, Jenesh Shrestha won the 20kg bout by defeating his opposition Rakesh Dhungel in the final while Sagar Sagal and Rajesh shared the third position. In the 60kg final, Amrit Giri outwitted Suresh Bohara in the final. Dhan Singh Ale and Balkrishna Shrestha finished joint third in the event.

Earlier, Sanju Gurung stood first in the women’s kata event yesterday. Sujita KC held the second place while Dhanu Lama and Sangita Lama settled for the joint third place. In the 45kg category, Sunu KC beat Yurina Rai to win the event. The title for the boys under 30kg went to Rakesh Maharjan following his win over Pradip Khadka in the final. Rakesh Gurung and Tika Maharjan settled for the third position in the event.

The winners were distributed with medals and certificates by chief guest Thaneshwor Rai, the chief karate instructor, amid a function held at Bhrikutimandap following the competition.

Maharjan, Koju, Chalise reach semis

CHAPAGAUN, Lalitpur, Sept 30 (PR) - Dilip Maharjan, Sanjay Koju, Sanjay Chalise and Ghana Shyam Neupane powered their way to the semifinals of the second BP Memorial Karate, Kick-boxing tournament here Sunday.

The second day of the tournament witnessed Dilip Maharjan of Sanepa put off the challenge of Indrajeet Mandal of Little Angels in the karate 30kg category. To join Maharjan in the semifinals, Koju (Bhaktapur), Chalise (Chapagaun) and Neupane (Lagankhel) defeated Sanu Kumar Maharjan (Lele), Akkal Bataju (Little Angels) and Akesh Maharjan (Prayag Pokhari) in their respective quarterfinal bouts.

Likewise, Sujan Pariyar (Balaju), Bhandekaji Shrestha (Bhaktapur), Ashok Kumar Shrestha (Sanepa) and Shiva Saran Giri (Central Dojang) completed the semifinal line-up in the 35kg class.

Meanwhile in the kick-boxing competition, Jaya Chandra Kumar Lama (Mahabir) beat Bindesh Shrestha (Balaju) to enter the semifinals in the 45kg class. Narendra Chitrakar (Chapagaun) and Dinesh Sunuwar (Lele) also stamped their authority over Dipendra Budha (Little Angels) and Rabin Gurung (Angel Heart) respectively to pave their way in to the last four.

Other semifinalists:

Karate: men’s 50kg class - Manish Bhandari (Little Angels), Binod Maharjan (Lagankhel), Rabindra Narayan Chaudhary (Balaju) and Rabindra Shrestha (Mahabir); 55kg class - Bijaya Man Yondho (Bhaktapur), Shaila Gamal (Mahabir), Sanukaji Maharjan (Lagankhel) and Manoj Acharya (Chapagaun); women’s 40kg class - Amrita Thapa (Mahabir), Pratibha Darshan (Shree Kumari), Sajani Maharjan (Prayag Pokhari) and Subhadra Shrestha (Balaju).

Dashain trophy tennis

KATHMANDU, Sept 30 (PR) – The first Dashain Junior tennis tournament, the weekend championship played in the Yak and Yeti tennis court, concluded here on Sunday.

Kushal Bhattarai emerged as the winner in the Under-14 boys segment defeating Sunny Shrestha 8-3 in the final. Likewise, in the Under-12 section, Jimmy Sherpa won the title beating Chaitanya Bhatiya 8-2.

The girls title was won by Linda Mcdougal as she overcame Reeti Rani Rai 8-2 in the final while Wangchuk Lama and George Molly won the consolation final matches in the boys U-12 and U-14 categories respectively.

Similarly, Kalyan Tulachan was voted the most promising player of the tournament.

The winners were presented with trophies by Senom D Lama, MD of Shehanshah International Sports Complex. The trophies were sponsored by Tsering Lama.

The organisers of the tournament—Sharad Lama, Catherine Hunt, Subha R Shahi and Krishna Ghale—also announced hosting another junior tennis tournament for the school students on the Davis Cup format. The tournament, to be held in the end of November, will be participated by four member teams from various schools.

Rs 4.56m for U-19 Cricket

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KATHMANDU, Sept 30 – A budget amounting to Rs 4.56m has been passed by a meeting of the main organising committee of the Under-19 Youth Asia Cup Cricket tournament, for the upcoming tournament, Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) said in its press release on Sunday.

Nepal will play host to the eight-nation tournament starting from October 1. The meeting, chaired by Minister for Education and Sports, Amod Prasad Upadhyay, also endorsed the CAN’s tournament executive committee.

The main organising committee also comprises of Rukma Shamsher Rana, vice-president of the National Sports Council (NSC) and Lava Kumar Devkota, secretary at the Ministry of Education and Sports, (vice-presidents); Binod Shankar Palikhe, member-secretary of NSC (member-secretary); Jay Kumar Nath Shah, president of CAN (secretary); Binay Raj Pandey, secretary of CAN (joint-secretary); members of NSC, CAN officials, Mayors of three districts of the valley (members).

The meeting also decided to request the Prime Minister for the inauguration of the tournament and approved the proposal to reward the Nepali cricket team through NSC whenever they finish first or second in any international cricket tournaments.

The eight-day tournament, apart from Nepal, will feature under-19 cricket teams from the Maldives, Malaysia, UAE, Qatar, Singapore, Kuwait and Oman. The winner will qualify for the U-19 World Cup scheduled for February in New Zealand next year.

Meanwhile, CAN in a separate press release issued today said that Roy Dias, the former Sri Lankan Test cricketer, has been appointed as the coach for the Nepali team (under ACC development programme) for the tournament and is arriving here on Monday.

Nepal finish 23rd as China win title

KATHMANDU, Sept 30 (PR) – Nepal finished a disappointing 23rd in the Davidoff National Cup Golf Championship which concluded Sunday at Royal Selangor Golf Club in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

According to a report received here from Malaysia, Nepali duo of Deepak Thapamagar and Deepak Acharya playing in the rain could only card five-over-par 77 in the final round for the tournament aggregate of 292 (67-80-68-77).

Only Finland (293), Mauritius (296) and Poland (301) finished behind Nepal.

Meanwhile, China won the Championship after a final-round score of five-under-par 67, edging overnight leaders Malaysia and Norway by one stroke.

China’s Zhang Lian-wei and Liang Wen-chong sank birdies in the opening three holes and stroked another birdie at the par-five sixth hole en route to a four-round total of 23-under 265.

The top three teams plus fourth-placed Mexico and joint fifth-placed finishers the Philippines and the Netherlands have qualified for the EMC World Cup at The Taiheiyo Club in Shizuoka,

Japan, from Nov. 15 to 18.

Mexico’s Octavio Gonzalez and Alejandro Quiroz booked their World Cup berth with a five-under 67 in the final round, which was interrupted by rain for two hours and 20 minutes. Mexico finished with a 21-under 267.

This is the third time that China has qualified for the World Cup. They participated in 1995 when China hosted the tournament and in 1996 where they emerged champions of the Nations Cup, which was held in Jamaica.

Malaysia has qualified for the World Cup more than 12 times. But this will be their sixth straight appearance since 1996.

Suraj Arcade cruise into semis

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KATHMANDU, Sept 30 - Suraj Arcade entered the semifinals of the Dashain Trophy Cricket tournament with a close 5-run victory over United Cricket Club (UCC) of Dharan on Sunday.

Suraj Arcade, who won so comprehensively against Kalimati on Saturday were made to work hard for the victory today by much experienced Dharan side. After winning the toss, their gambit to score quickly off the Dharan bowlers failed to pay rich dividends as they were bowled out for a lowly 173 runs in 34.2 overs.

Manoj Sood, who scored a fluent hundred against Kalimati, was dismissed for 24 runs in a process to accumulate quick runs. Virendra Shah, however consolidated the Suraj Arcade innings with evenly scored 40 off 38 balls with 5 fours.

The contributions of Bikash Karna (25), Ratan Rauniyar (20) and Ramakant Bharadwaj (19) proved decisive at the end.

All four UCC bowlers - Basant Sharma, Kiran Agrawal, Bhawesh Thapa and Indra Rai - returned with four wickets apiece.

Chasing a moderate victory target of 174 runs, UCC did make a positive start but failed to steady their innings as the match proceeded. The victory was very much on when Pramesh Shakya and Kiran Agrawal were in the middle. Shakya, who played an attacking role, scored 52 runs from 58 balls with the help of 3 fours and a six while Agrawal made 30 runs to hold the UCC innings at the other end.

However, Suraj Arcade bowlers brought themselves back into the match removing both the batsmen in quick succession. The UCC innings simply fell apart in the wake of their dismissals and were all out for 168 runs.

Amir Akhtar, despite being quite expensive, was the most successful among Suraj Arcade bowlers with three wickets and was later named man of the match. Raju KC, who returned with a figure of 2-25 off 7 overs was the most economical.