AIM, Lincoln, Ascol dominate

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KATHMANDU, Oct 3 – Ace Institute of Management (AIM) hammered Unique B 82-31 in the Pool D encounter under 2nd Amrit Trophy Basketball (ATB) Championship match played on Wednesday.

With AIM already securing their place in the last eight alongside Brigade Boys Club (BBC) for the Pool, the match, however, hardly had anything above an academic interest. AIM is slated to meet Unique A in the quarters while BBC will take on 10’ers.

After the first quarter, where the scores were tied at 12-12, Unique boys never seemed to pose any challenge to the AIM players, also known as Ace Flyers.

Unique boys, who were at disadvantage due to their
short stature, also looked technically inferior to the AIM players. That was reflected by their
struggle in the entire course of the match.

Ace Flyers’ held their supremacy throughout as the score read 32-7, 35-19 and 25-5 in the second, third and fourth quarters respectively.

Bipin Maharjan, continued his superb run of form scoring 24 points—the highest in the match. He managed a couple of three-pointers in the process. Shiva Shrestha was the highest scorer for Unique B with 9 points.

In the day’s Pool B contest, Ascol Juniors defeated Ranjana Cassette Center (RCC) 49-35. Ascol has already qualified for the quarter-finals along with Gyanodaya from the pool.

Raju Shrestha from Ascol was the highest scorer in the match with 15 points while Om Chandra Ghale scored 9 points for RCC.

Likewise, defending champions Lincoln School drubbed Nepal Commerce Campus (NCC) 65-27 in the Pool A match. Rishi Robertson of Lincoln was the highest scorer of the match with 36 points.

Earlier, 10’ers were awarded victory as their Pool C opponents, Kathmandu University did not turn up for the match.

Brihaspati basketball

LALITPUR, Oct 3 (PR)- The hosts Brihaspati ‘A’ entered the quarterfinals of the Brihaspati Inter-school Basketball tournament scoring a comprehensive 34-12 victory over New Summit in Group D match Wednesday.

Karan Adhikari was instrumental in the Brihaspati’s win as he top scored with 11 points in the match. Keshang Dorje Sherpa, Prateek Paudel and Anuj Manandhar were other contributors, netting 8, 8 and 7 points respectively.

Wilson Academy also proved their might against RIBS, winning their Group A encounter by 42-10. Pradip, Prakash and Binay played in perfect tandem each accounting for 10 points in the match. Basanta Gurung of RIBS was declared player of the match.

Similarly, Swarnim School got the better of Excelsior by 16-10 to reserve a quarterfinal berth as the runners-up from Group C.

9th School-level Special Games start

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KATHMANDU, Oct 3 - More than five hundred disabled children from 43 districts of the nation converged at the Dashrath Stadium as the 9th School-level Special Games event got underway Wednesday.

The three-day event, being organised by the Nepal Para-Olympic Committee (NPC) carrying a slogan of ‘Special Effort for Special Games’, seemed to have brought cheers among the physiologically and psychologically tormented children which would see them indulge in a string of sports — football, table-tennis, athletics as well as cultural programme.

In the opening day, all the events of athletics including 100m race, 200m race, 400m relay,
high-jump, long-jump, shot-put, javelin throw and soft-ball were concluded.

Bikash Khadka, a 15-year-old mentally retarded child from Thimi, who won the silver medal in 100m run was all smiles. "Last time I went back without medal but this time I got it," said Khadka, pulling out the medal from under his shirt.

This is the second time that the event has been organised by the NPC. Special Education Council (SPC), one of the wings of the Ministry of Education, held the first seven editions of the event before NPC took over from them two years ago.

"We are planing to extend this programme at the regional level so that almost all disabled children could get exposure," says Yubaraj Kathi, president of NPC.

Those representing districts away from the capital looked more pleased. Goma Adhikari, a deaf from Bhairahawa Rehabilitation Centre signalled that she felt the event more entertaining than the local competitions. She expressed her feelings through her teacher cum interpreter Khaga Raj Pandey.

Purna Kanta Koirala, the principal of Chitwan Rehabilitation Centre, says there are more children eager to compete at such events.

"All the children were insisting me to bring them here," says Koirala, who came to the capital with a 12-member team, including four officials and eight children representing five centres for disabled children in Chitwan.

"As it is not feasible to bring in everyone to the centre, a provision should be made to hold such events at the regional level," he adds. "That would help us prevent situations where children get depressed."