Deepak Thapa bags title

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Pokhara, Nov 15 - Deepak Thapa took away the title of the Surya Nepal Western Open 2003, by a narrow margin of three strokes finishing at three-over par 149 at the par-73 Himalayan Golf Club Course, today.

The second place went to Pashupati Sharma who hit a five-over 78 to add to his even par round yesterday. Thapa, the leader after day one, had a triple bogey on the 9th hole, which left him two over for the day while Sharma was at par. Thapa kept his cool and ended with a three over on the back nine to take home the winner’s cheque of Rs 25,000 while Sharma struggled with a five-over 78 taking a cheque of Rs 18,000.

The best score of the day was one-over 74 shot by Deepak Neupane where as Radhe Shyam Thapa carded three-over 76 to sum up his two days tally to nine-over 154 taking away the third prize and a cheque of Rs 14,000. Defending champion Ramesh Nagarkoti did not fare too well from the start of round one, finally ending up tied at fourth place with a total tally of 13-over 159.

Thapa was a picture of consistency. On the final day, he pared the first five holes before making birdie on the sixth. Two-over in the first five holes, Thapa shot an eagle on the sixth hole and birdie on the eighth.

Shivram Shrestha of Royal Nepal golf Club won the amateurs title when he shot a 84 on the final day to beat Rabi Khadka of the same club by slender margin of three strokes over last two days. Gurung had an 85 today to add to his 96 on the first day.

In the pro-am held simultaneously, Pashupati Sharma and his team of Balaram Thapa and D Stotz edged out the team led by Deepak Neupane comprising D.B Gurung and Dev Gurung by one point.The winners tallied 59 points. Defending champion Ramesh Nagarkoti, Major M.P.Rai and Jai Bhadur Gurung were third with the total of 57 points.

Chitrakar wins Thalar Cup Golf

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KATHMANDU, Nov 15 - Gopal Chitrakar won the Thalar Cup Golf Tournament played at the Royal Nepal Golf Club on Friday and Saturday.

He netted 69 to pip Brig Gen Gunjaman Lama, who netted 70, to win the title in 0-9 handicap category. Similarly, SK Singh netted 65 to win the title in 10-18 handicap category. Rabindra Raj Pandey netted 66 to come second on countback in the category.

Likewise, CB Bhandari returned the best gross of 72. Himalaya SJB Rana won the super senior title pushing Maj Gen Nara Bahadur Budathoki to the second spot.

In ladies, section Mi Ran Kim netted 68 to take the honours while Eu Hazur Thapa took second spot netting 72. Sunny Baral won the junior title as the only participant in the category.

CB Bhandari carded four birdies to take the honours for the most birdies. He also hit the longest drive in hole no 13. Similarly, Pradeep Kumar Shrestha and Gopal Chitrakar hit nearest to the pin in the hole no five and 17 respectively.

Uma Tiwari won the best sportsmanship award finishing second last among the competents. Likewise, Maj Gen Mohan Bahadur Adhikary won the award for the best dressed golfer.

The tournament played at strokeplay full handicap format featured 62 golfers along with nine ladies.

Rana duo get better of Rais

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KATHMANDU, Nov 15 - Rupal SJB Rana and Laxman Rana advanced into the second round of the men’s doubles of Jaikar Memorial Open Tennis Tournament following their 6-1, 1-6, 6-1 win over Uttam Rai and Vijay Rai today at the Dashrath Stadium Tennis Court.

In the day’s only men’s double match, the Rana duo looked in tremendous touch in the first set that saw Rai duo committing several unforced errors. The Rai duo just managed to win a game in the first set as Rana pair cruised through winning four service breaks.

The second set was reverse. Rai duo bounced back in the match in style and confirmed that there would be a hard-fought third set. Rai duo were visibly tired in the third set and lack of stamina hampered their show. Rana duo didn’t let their opponents ride high and wrapped up the third set with identical 6-1 win.

Lewis Paule had to toil hard to defeat Uttam Lama in veteran’s singles as the former won the match 6-4, 1-6, 6-1. Likewise, Samaj Prasad Shrestha bounced back from a set down to clinch a three-set thriller against Sunil Gurung in the same category. After going down by 6-4 in the first match, Shrestha won the match 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.

Meanwhile, the juniors’ competition of the tournament also started at the Satdobato Tennis court from today. Shivani Pandey defeated Tenzing Chuky 9-0 in the girls’ U-14 advancing into the second round. Likewise, Saloni Pandey also breezed through the second round by virtue of her 9-1 win over Tenzing Kungay.

Other Results:

Subarna Dhakhwa beat Sangram S Lama 6-0, 6-1; TTK beat Madur Sinya 6-2, 6-0; Prabendra Singh beat Raju Shrestha 6-0, 6-3; Jush Ram Gurung beat Prithvi Thakali 6-2, 6-4; Narendra Rokka beat Deepak Shrestha 6-2, 6-2; Rajendra Tanjya beat Shyam KGC 6-4, 6-2; Raju Shrestha beat Suresh Khatri 6-3, 6-2; Kumar Adhikari beat Ashok Singh 6-1, 6-1; Suwarna Dhakwa beat Atma Ram Karki 6-2, 6-2. Malcom M Dangol, Dinesh Tuladhar, Wang Ji, Lal P Rokka, Madhu Pariyar advanced through walkover.

Juniors’ category: Biwas KC beat Saurav Bastola (9-5), Prayas Chettri beat Pranab Vaidhya (9-4), Prayas Bista beat Sanjeev Maharjan (9-0), Lopsang Lama beat Sakaya Khanal (9-1), C Bhatia beat Sandesh Singh (9-1), Summer Lama beat Sanjay Thapa (9-1), Gaurav Shah beat Suraj KC (9-1), Shivani Pandey beat Amia Bhatiya (9-8), Malika Rana beat Saloni Pandey (9-1), Priti Rizal beat Yang Chen Lama (9-8), Otsav Rizal beat Sandeep Tamrakar (9-1), Suraj Shah beat Ramesh Karki (9-3), Malcom M’dogal (9-2), Kishwor Singh beat Atish Gurung (9-3), Dawa Sonam beat Ishwor GC (9-1).

Indian Embassy through to semis

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KATHMANDU, Nov 15 - Defending Champions Indian Embassy entered the semifinals of the Soaltee Crowne Plaza Super Sixes Tournament after outwitting Nabil Bank and ILFC today.

Indian Embassy won all three matches of Group A and became the first team in the tournament to enter the last four. In their first match of the day, they defeated Nabil Bank by four wickets and then thrashed ILFC by five wickets.

The defending champions packed Nabil Bank for mere 35 runs and comfortably reached the target for the loss of one wicket. In the second match, they repeated same performance to restrict ILFC at 35 runs and made the target without any damage. In other match of the same group played today for formality, Nabil Bank registered a 16-run victory over ILFC.

Surya Nepal is leading the chart in Group ‘B’ after scoring consecutive wins over Nepal Bangladesh Bank and The Himalayan Times.

Surya Nepal thrashed The Himalayan Times by six wickets while they downed Nepal Bangladesh Bank by 17 runs. The only barrier for them in the tournament is Kantipur Publications who won their first match convincingly against The Himalayan Times on Friday. Kantipur Publications have two games in hand and their matches against Surya Nepal and Nepal Bangladesh are scheduled for Sunday.

In Group ‘C’ British Gurkhas sidelined Gorkha Brewery registering a six wicket win. British Gurkhas are unbeaten side yet and need a win to seal the semifinal spot. Likewise Bank of Kathmandu beat Kumari Bank by four wickets and Standard Chartered Bank beat Kumari Bank by seven runs.

BCB pile on ACC XI’s misery

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KATHMANDU, Nov 15 - Asian Cricket Council’s Select XI Under-19 Dream Team suffered fourth defeat in their Bangladesh tour as the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s Under-19 Development Squad won the first of the two two-day matches on the basis of first innings’ lead at Dhaka today.

Batting first, BCB squad made 269/7 runs playing all 90 overs of the first day and bowled out ACC team for 144 runs in 75 overs taking all important lead of 125 runs. They batted the remaining 12 overs of the match scoring 84 runs without any loss. ACC team had lost all their three earlier one-day matches at Khulna Divisional Stadium.

Kaniska Chaugai made half-century for ACC team while most of the others faltered. Kaniska’s 62 came off 115 balls. Captain Shakti Gauchan too stayed longer on the crease making 33 off 133 balls while Sharad Vesawkar got 21. Sajib Dutta was the main destroyer of ACC’s innings as he grabbed six wickets .

On Friday, BCB team batted all day to accumulate a huge total dominating ACC’s bowling. They ended the day on 269/7 but declared on the second morning.

UAE’s captain Leon Carlo got three wickets while Kuwait’s Waqas Jamal and Shakti bagged one each.

For BCB, Hasibul Haq and M Riad got half-centuries. Riad scored 62 off 148 balls while Haq got innings’ highest 78 off 172 balls. Abdul Halim missed the mark by six runs as he got out for 44 off 92 deliveries.