Dinesh Shrestha of Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) broke 19-year old national record in men’s 105kg weight category snatch in the National Weightlifting Championships under the National Sports Council (NSC) Championships in Pokhara on Friday.

Shrestha lifted 121kg in snatch to break the previous best of 120kg set by Madan Shivabhakti during the 1999 eighth South Asian Federation Games held in Kathmandu. Shrestha had a total lift of 261kg after he lifted 140kg in clean and jerk to claim gold in the category. Another TAC lifter Pukar Gurung, meanwhile, bettered his own national record in the above 105kg category.

Gurung lifted 125kg in snatch–one kilogram more than his own record set during the seventh National Games held in Eastern Region last year.  He claimed gold with 140kg in clean and jerk for a total lift of 215kg. On a day when Army lifters dominated the show, Surendra Shrestha claimed the 85kg gold. He snatched 105kg, lifted 127kg in clean and jerk for a total lift of 232kg.

The men’s 94kg weight category gold also went to TAC’s Tahal Bahadur Basel, who won the clean and jerk event with a lift of 127kg and total lift of 217kg. Shree Krishna Maharjan of Nepal Police Club (NPC) earned gold in snatch lifting 100kg– 0 more than Basel.

Kamal Bahadur Adhikari–also from TAC–was named the strongest man and best lifter of the tournament. NPC’s Tara Devi Pun won the strongest woman title, while Sanju Chaudhary of TAC was adjudged the best lifter. The three individual winners along with record breaking Shrestha and Gurung got Rs 5,000 apiece.

Karki wins golf gold 

Tanka Bahadur Karki won the individual gold medal of the golf tournament at the par-68 Royal Nepal Golf Club (RNGC) on Friday.

Karki was runaway champion seeing off his nearest contender Sukra Bahadur Rai of Nirvana Country Club by five strokes. The individual honour comes a day after Karki helped Central Region clinch the team event gold. Subash Ghising of Central finished third.

Karki shot two-over 70 on the third and final day to post a 54-hole total of three-over 207, while Rai firing one-under 67 but could only clinch silver with the total score of eight-over 212. Ghising finished a distant third at 18-over 222. Karki carded two-over 36 on the front nine and even-par 34 on the back nine. Rai shot even-par 34 on the front nine and one-under 33 on the back nine. 

On Thursday, Central Region team of Karki, Ghising and Sandip Tamang claimed the team event gold medal with the two-round score of 282. Rai, Sundar Rai and Yubraj Bhujel of Nirvana finished in second at 294. RNGC team of Binod Tamang, Bharat Bastakoti and Navaraj Chaulagain was third with the score of 304.

Triple gold medal for Kanchanpur, Bara

Kanchanpur and Bara claimed three gold medals each in the National Wrestling Championships in Hetauda. Maya Lohar (53kg) and Sangita Dhami (58kg) won gold for Kanchanpur in the women’s category, while Suresh Chunara took men’s 70kg weight category gold. Bara won all three gold in men’s event with Ram Babu Yadav (57kg), Bunni Lal Raut (86kg) and Mukhtar Alam (74kg) claiming top spot. Paras, along with TAC, also claimed double gold through Saroj Yadav (65kg) and Raj Padav (125kg) in men’s section. Dadeldhura, Kailali, Banke, Jhapa and Sunsari also claimed a medal each.

Army denied clean sweep in shooting

Central Region denied TAC a clean sweep in the National Shooting Championships after the departmental side claimed three out of four team event gold medals. TAC won the men’s 10m air rifle scoring 1698 points ahead of Central (1598) and Mid Western (1588). Their women’s team then scored 1128 points to beat NPC (1127) and Central (1009). Central won the men’s 10m air pistol with a total scored of 1607. TAC finished second with 1588 points—22 points ahead of Eastern. TAC won the women’s 10m air pistol with 1067 points to leave behind NPC (1044) and Far West (924). 

Police clinch TT men’s doubles title

At the National Table Tennis Training Centre in Lainchaur, Syantu Shrestha and Deep Saun of NPC struck the men’s doubles gold. The NPC duo defeated Krishna Thapa Magar and Narayan Ghimire of TAC 11-3,11-2,11-5. In the semi-finals, TAC pair had defeated NPC’s Pradip Rokka and Binesh Khaniya. Shrestha and Saun had beaten Purushottam Bajracharya and Amar Bahadur Malla of APF in the last four.

Central completes basketball double

Central Region claimed double gold in the National Basketball Championships at the NSC covered hall. In an evenly contested men’s final, Central stunned defending champions TAC 80-77 making a comeback in the final quarter. Veteran Bipendra Maharjan’s 18 points were crucial in handing Central a sensational victory. In the third place playoff, NPC beat Nepal Armed Police Force (APF) Club 88-74 on a back of 22 points from Sandesh Tamang. Their women’s team then eased to a 63-44 victory over Mid-west on the back of 22 points from Anusha Malla. TAC ended up third with a 41-27 victory over Western Region. Laxmi Chaudhary scored 16 points for TAC.