Nepal’s dismal performance continued during the 17th edition of the regional games as the South Asian Games wushu gold medalist Ang Babu Lama also joined Jharana Gurung and Chahana Bomjan in the sidelines. Competing in the Taiji Jian Thaulo event, Lama finished bottom of the table. Another wushu player Susmita Tamang ended 10th in the Chan Quan event participated in by 12 nations.

Judokas also failed to lift the gloom hovering the Nepali camp. The closest Nepal has come to touching medal so was when Gurung (women’s below 52kg) and Bomjan (women’s below 60m) made it to quarter-finals in wushu before crashing out on Monday. Every other Nepali martial art players failed to even cross the first hurdle so far. In the men’s judo team event, Nepal lost 4-1 against Saudi Arabia. In individual events, Saroj Majarjan, Ramesh Magar and Shree Ram Makaju all lost their qualifying bouts. Nepai women’s team also lost 3-1 to Chinese Taipei. In the women’s individual events, Debika Khadka, Phupu Lhyamu Khatri and Sunita Bohara all lost their bouts.

As expected swimmers crashed out of the heats although Sirish Gurung bettered his personal timing by 0.02 seconds after completing the men’s 50m freestyle in 27.23. Another swimmer Miraj Prajapati clocked 28.08 to finish sixth, two places behind Sirish. The fencing team of Ram Bahadur Shahi, Jung Giri and Rajendra Shrestha succumbed to 11-45 defeat against the top ranked South Korean team.

Nepali archers, making their Asian Games debut, also put on an ordinary display in the women’s recurve individual ranking round. Krishna Maya Syangtan (592 points) came 44th followed by Ayesha Tamang (584) in 46th, Monica Rana Magar (540) in 53rd and Renu Lama (501) the last in the 56-strong competitors. In the men’s recurve individual ranking round, Jit Bahadur Moktan (578 points) finished 48th, Asim Sherchan (578 points) 49th and Prem Prasad Pun (552 points) 58th out of the 72 archers.

Making first ever appearance in the Asian Games, the women’s basketball team suffered a heavy 106-35 defeat against Kazakhstan. Anusha Malla was the top scorer for Nepal with 12 points while Priti Tulachan contributed 10. 

On Wednesday women’s cricket team will take on Test nation Bangladesh in quarter-finals. Nepal’s skipper Rubina Chhetri said that she looked forward to an improved batting performance from her team. “So far our batting hasn’t clicked and if we do not improve on it tomorrow, we will to let go medal hopes,” said Chhetri, whose side registered a 46-run win against Malaysia on Monday to secure the last eight berth.

Also on Wednesday, boxers  Puran Rai and Purna Bahadur Rai will vie in the men’s 56kg and 60gk weight division respectively. Nepali shuttlers will also be in action in men’s and women’s singles as well as mixed doubles events on Wednesday. Nepal will play India and Indonesia in the women’s doubles event while Nepal No. 1 Ratnajit Tamang will take on Ahamed Irfan Shahid of Pakistan.  His sisters Sara Devi and Nangsal Devi will also be in action on Wednesday.