Nepal, Oman to meet in Youth Asia Cup 2001 opener

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Oct 7 – Nepal will take on Oman in their Pool B match of the third Youth Asia Cup 2001 at the Tribhuvan University ground on October 11, the tournament organising committee announced at a press meet on Sunday.

The opening day’s programme will also feature Pool A matches between Malaysia and Kuwait in the Pool A at the Engineering Institute ground A, and United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar at the ground B.

Likewise, Singapore and Maldives will face off in the Pool B on the same day at the St Xavier’s School ground.

Talking to reporters on the occasion, Sultan Rana, the tournament director, expressed satisfaction over preparations for the tournament.

"Things are going in the desired direction as for now," said Rana, admitting that he had doubts ‘whether CAN could manage the whole event or not’ at the time of his last visit here in July.

"I appreciate CAN for putting in lots of hard work to bring the stadia to the present form."

Jai Kumar Nath Shah, president of Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) and secretary of the tournament main organising committee, hoped that the tournament would help to improve cricket in Nepal.

Binod Shanker Palikhe, member-secretary of National Sports Council (NSC) and the tournament main organising committee, giving details on the tournament’s organisation said that the total cost is estimated at Rs 4.5 million would be met through the aid from Asian Cricket Council (ACC), NSC resources and sponsorships.

"The expenses that account for the lodging and travel of players and technical officials will be paid by ACC," said Palikhe.

He also announced that there will be no entry fee for the spectators. "However, the Free Students Union of the Engineering Institute are planning to issue tickets to raise funds for the maintenance of the grounds there," he said.

The winner of the 8-day tournament will qualify for the Youth World Cup due to be held in New Zealand February next year.

The first Youth Asia Cup was held in Hong Kong in 1997. Nepal finished as the runners-up in the plate-final — the play off match between the two losing semifinalists. Nepal finished runners-up to Bangladesh in the second edition that took place in Singapore in 1999, thereby qualifying for the Youth World Cup, held in Sri Lanka earlier last year.

Nepal U-19 team

KATHMANDU, Oct 7 (PR) - The Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) named the final squad of 14 players for the third Youth Asia Cup 2001 on Sunday.

The team was selected by the players’ selection committee formed under National Sports Council in conjunction with CAN.

The team, as announced earlier, will be led by Binod Das—a member of the team that played in the Youth World Cup in Sri Lanka. Bardan Chalise is chosen as his deputy. Four players, Narendra Bohra, Irfan Siddiqui, Prakash Sharma and Dipesh Khatri have been left out of the pack of 18 probables.

The team: Binod Das (captain), Bardan Chalise (vice-captain), Manoj Katuwal (wk), Pramod Singh Basnet, Sanjam Regmi, Rohit Sharma, Shakti Gauchan, Prem Chaudhary, Basant Regmi, Lakpa Lama, Yashwant Subedi, Basudev Thapa, Manjeet Shrestha and Kanishka Chaugai

Finals of Surya Nepal Snooker underway

KATHMANDU, Oct 7 (PR) - Suraj Singh defeated Manish Dhungel 3-2 as the final phase of the Surya Nepal Snooker Challenge 2001 got underway at Lainchaur Covered Hall on Sunday.

A total of 12 matches were played on the opening of the final phase featuring the top eight players of the competition—Rajan Lama, Raju Shrestha, Suraj Singh, Ramesh Khadka, Tashi Wangchuk, Angkami Lama, Chakra Lama and Niraj Gurung.

Singh, representing Exclusive Snooker Parlour scored a fabulous 57-break in the match, which would remain the highest for the day.

Meanwhile Chakra Lama of Chhorten Snooker advanced to the last sixteen keeping a clean sheet with a 3-0 victory over Amir Thapa of Red 15. Rajan Lama, also representing Chhorten Snooker, joined the last sixteen company following his 3-1 win over Gaj Raj Khadka of Potala Snooker.

Tashi Wangchuk of Heaven’s Snooker outwitted Buddha Lama of Super Bowl 3-2 in an involving contest.

However, Raju Shrestha and Angkami Sherpa failed to turn up at the hall and conceded their respective matches to Rajkamal Basnet of Red 15 and Prakash Gurung of Nasal Snooker Club.

Earlier, the competition was inaugurated by Mohan Rai, a member of the National Sports Council (NSC) amid a function held at the Lainchaur hall.

Shrestha leads Rambir Memorial Chess

LALITPUR, Oct 7 (PR) – Keshav Shrestha put off the challenge of veteran Sitaram Agrawal here Sunday to top the leaderboard in the Rambir Memorial Chess tournament with 7 points.

The contest, employing a four-knight format, witnessed one of the rapid moves in the tournament so far with Shrestha, playingunder pressure as he started off with black.

However, he gain in on a pawn in the 21st move which turned out to be a decisive one at the end as he went on to topple experienced Agrawal. In other match, R Bajracharya settled for a draw with the computer, thus allowing Shrestha to jump to the top.

The defending national champion, Badri Lal Nepali, shared the second spot with the computer at 6.5 points. Nepali faced a strong challenge from young player from Hetauda, Anil Rajbahak in a lively contest, before he could turn the table on his side.

Similarly, Rabindra Shakya, the third seed, also scored a win over Bijay Maharjan to hold the third spot in the competition with 6 points.

In other matches, former national champion Nabin beat veteran Triratna Shakya while Dharma Lama defeated Nanda Ram Tamrakar.

Janardan Shrestha, Rajesh Kashyapati, Maniraj Dangi won to finish at 5.5 points in the tournament. Digesh Malla, Rajan Chhetri, Baburaja Maharjan, Balram Napit, Triratna Shakya, Rajendra Prasad Shrestha and Mahesh Lal Shrestha also have 5.5 points.

Gyanodaya in ATB semis

KATHMANDU, Oct 7 (PR) - Gyanodaya became the first team to enter the semifinals in the 2nd Amrit Trophy Basketball (ATB) Championship following their win over Knights Club here on Sunday.

Gyanodaya- who failed to score in as many as seven free basket opportunities- managed to crush Knights 55-22. The match saw a scintillating performance from Gyanodaya’s prolific scorer Anand Gurung, who ended up with 31 individual points including three three-pointers.

Gurung came into the action straight away with a brilliant basket as early as in the 30th second of the game. Gyanodaya put their meek opponents under pressure early in the match as they had notched up 9 points even before Knights boys opened up their account. The first quarter ended with Gyanodaya taking a huge lead at 11-4.

The Knights boys failed to improve scoring even in the second quarter as Gyanodaya stretched the lead to 21 - 8. Knights did try to reduce the gap in the third quarter, at a point the scoreboard read 21-13, but that was not enough for them to put up any fight. Gyanodaya, taking the advantage of Knights’ poor defence, finished the quarter with 31-18.

In the last quarter alone, Gyanodaya netters scored 24 points while conceding just four points to the Knights boys. Besides Gurung, Manish Maharjan contributed 8 useful points for the team. For Knights, Vardan Thapa netted eight points— maximum for his team.

The days’ second quarterfinal, scheduled between Unique A and Ace Institute of Management (AIM), failed to take place as Unique A failed to report to the ground on time. The organisers have rescheduled the match for Monday morning.