The Armed Police Force runner has his eyes set at winning a marathon gold by bettering the record set by legendary Baikuntha Manandhar in 1987.

The 17-year-old finished with 14-under 274 to register eight-stroke win over Bangladesh's Md Fahrad.

Nepal added six gold medals on Thursday to take their tally to 96 medals, including 35 gold and 23 silver.

While the 21-year-old toiled hard to beat Akshay Hooda of India 29-27, Apsara Karki, Manita Shahi and Kiran Bahadur Ale lost their final bouts.

The hosts extend their tally in taekwondo to 11 gold, 3 silver and 9 bronze medals. Deepak Hamal adds a third wushu gold.

Six more gold medals are up for grabs in cross country, road race and time trial.

Put into bat first, the home team set a decent target of 173-5 despite losing opener Paras Khadka for just one run.

The hosts win two gold medals each in taekwondo, karate and wushu and a gold each in athletics and triathlon.

In a photo finish, Shrestha, who had led the race from the very first lap, won by ten milliseconds.

The 35-year-old becomes the first Nepali player to win double gold in a single day at the South Asian Games.

The member secretary of the National Sports Council on why, despite plenty of preparation time, some of the sports facilities are still incomplete.

With Nepal hosting the regional sporting extravaganza, these national athletes are expected to make the most of home advantage.

A total of 18,000 security personnel to be deployed in three host cities; Games’ ticket bookings to be available online through e-Sewa.

Of late, players have been using different supplements and it is essential for them to know if the supplements contain banned substances or not.

The swimming pool and the squash hall at Satdobato are the two major concerns as they are unlikely to be ready in time for the Games.