Sports
Another day of disappointments for Nepal
Nepal are yet to reach close to a medal after the fourth day at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.Prajwal Oli
Nepal's medal hopes in taekwondo were once again dashed on the fourth day of the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. Three taekwondokas who competed on Tuesday failed to live up to expectations with only Gobinda Bahadur Ale among them managing to secure a victory in his first bout before losing the second one.
Nepal, who are competing in 29 events, are yet to reach close to a medal.
Ale, who competed in the men's below 63kg division, lost to Banlung Tubtimdang of Thailand in the round of 16 after finishing 12-14 in the first round and 7-8 in the second round. The 23-year-old had defeated Jose da Costa E Silva of Timor-Leste in the round of 32.
Ayasha Lama and Sandhya Kumari Singh were the other taekwondo players to make exits after the first round. Lama was defeated by Korea’s Hyejin Park at women’s below 63kg division in the round of 16. Sandhya Kumari Singh also lost her women’s below 57kg round of 16 contest against Lebanon’s Laetitia Aoun.
Four players have already exited from the Games. Prem Bahadur Limbu in men’s poomsae and Anjali Tamang in women’s gyoroogi (combat) had secured victories in their first round bouts before losing the second one. Other players lost their games in the first bout.
Altogether 11 players had competed from taekwondo, out of which seven players have lost even without reaching touching distance of medals.
Nepal’s lone participant of the day at boxing Buddha Gyamjo Lama lost by unanimous decision of 4-0 in men’s 51kg to 57kg division going down to Van Duong Nguyen
Nepal’s challenge in judo ended after Ranjesh Gole and Aakriti Joshi both lost their first round bouts. Gole was eliminated in men’s above 100kg division by Kazakhstan’s Galymzhan Krikbay in the round of 16 by ippon, the highest point in judo. Joshi went down to Galymzhan Krikbay of Uzbekistan in the women's above 78kg division round of 16.
Altogether eight judokas, four male and female players each, had represented Nepal in judo and none of them were able to make it into the quarter-finals.
In the rugby sevens, Nepal finished at the bottom of the 13-team contest after they lost 68-0 to the Independent Athlete Team of Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) which represents Sri Lanka. The islanders are competing under the OCA flag due to suspension of the country’s national federation by World Rugby. The outcome meant Nepal bowed out, losing all six games.
Nepali squash team also had a day to forget as both the men's and women’s team lost two matches. In the women’s team event, Nepal’s squad of Swasthani Shrestha, Bipana Bhlon and Krishna Thapa lost all their matches in straight sets of 3-0 against Malaysia in Pool B game. The trio succumbed to defeat in similar fashion in the second match against Macau going down 3-0.
The men’s team comprising Amir Bhlon, Amrit Thapa Magar and Ahrant Keshar Simha all lost in straight sets of 3-0 against both Kuwait and Pakistan in their Pool A game.
The mixed doubles tennis saw Nepal’s pair of Sunira Thapa and Pranav Khanal go down to the Philippines’ pair of Alex Eala and Francis Casey Alcantara in double bagel.
Wushu player Deepak Hamal finished 13th in men’s Nanquan scoring 9.6333 points while Nima Gharti Magar ended 10th among 11 players in the same event for women securing 9.140 points. In Nangun, Hamal finished 15th scoring 9.546 among 20 martial artists. Gharti Magar was eighth in nandao among 11 contestants securing 9.563 points.