Gold medal hopefuls Yan Kumari Chaulagain and Gyani Chunara failed to pass the final hurdles as Nepal ended the day with three silver and five bronze medals in the 12th South Asian Games on Sunday.

Chaulagain and Chunara displayed enough courage to reach the finals but were outplayed by the opponents in the gold medal clashes. Two bronze medals also came in taekwondo. A day after winning their first medal (bronze) in triathlon through Roza KC, Nepal earned a historic silver in the discipline, which is included for the first time at the regional meet.

All three Nepali boxers failed in the semi-finals to be restricted to bronze. Shooters had a disappointing outing, finishing fifth in the men’s team events, while the men’s and women’s football teams prepared for their gold medal matches—both against India.

Nepal, who won the only gold so far through Nima Gharti Magar in wushu, have one gold, 16 silver and 24 bronze medals.

Chaulagain, Chunara fail

Rejina Karki had won taekwondo’s first silver on Saturday in this edition of the Games and the Nepali camp had high hopes from Chaulagain and Chunara after they eased to the finals. However, both players were outplayed by the superior opponents.

Chaulagain, who was restricted to a bronze medal in previous edition in 2010, was hapless against Purva Dixit of India,  who won below-49kg final 12-4. Chaulagain won her first point with just 45 seconds remaining and by then the game had already slipped out of her grasp.

In the below-57kg final, Chunara did put some fight against Afghanistan’s Humaira F Shah before losing 10-7. Chunara tied the first round 1-1 before Shah surged ahead with a 6-3 lead in the second. Sunil Paudel and Nischal Shrestha were restricted to bronze.

Paudel, who had a first round bye in below-58kg, lost to Gajendar Parihar in the semi-finals 14-2. Shrestha also lost to Indian opponent   Manu George  18-6 in the last four. Purna Bahadur Budhathoki was the only player to miss out on a medal, losing his first round match to Sri Lankan player 9-2 in the below-87kg.

Triathlon’s feat

Nepal won their first silver medal in the mixed relay through Yam Kumari Ghale, KC, Himal Thapa and Rudra Katuwal. The Nepali team completed 300m swimming, 6.5km cycling and 1.5km running in 1:31:35. India took gold in 1:24:31 and Sri Lanka bronze in 1:32:05.

Boxing

Nepal had three appearances in the semi-finals and all three boxers lost. Deepak Shrestha lost to Sri Lanka’s Dinidu Saparamadu in the men’s 64kg, Minu Gurung was beaten by Sri Lankan K Anusha Diltukshi in the women’s 51kg and Saraswoti Rana lost to India’s L Sarita Devi in the women’s below 60kg weight category.

Shooting

In the men’s 10m air pistol, Nepal finished in a distant fifth place. The Nepali team consisting of Suman Tuladhar, Kuber KC and Ram Lal Gurung scored 1,563 points. India won gold in 1765, Pakistan took silver and Sri Lanka got bronze.