Dipesh Dhami and Sajan Krishna Tamrakar were two of the nine Nepal Armed Police  Force (APF) Club shutters to win first round men’s singles matches during the  Krishna Mohan Memorial Open Badminton Championships on Monday.

Held at the APF headquarters court in Halchowk, Dhami eased past Bijay Baniya  of Myagdi 21-8, 21-8 and Tamrakar saw off Amrit Chaudhary of Kailali 21-13, 21 -15. Other APF shuttlers to record first round win include Pemba Sherpa, Gautam  Singh Kathayat, Sudeep Sedai, Niranjan Devkota, Bijit Thapa Magar, Sunil Joshi  and Nir Bikram Devkota.

Kathayat beat Bhoj Bahadur Gurung of Itahari 21-15, 21-15, Sedai defeated qualifier Gokul Jora of Kanchanpur 26-24, 21-13, Devkota defeated Bishal  Khadka of Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC), Thapa Magar got the better of Sujan Thapa  of Zest Badminton Academy 21-17, 21-19, Joshi overcame Purna Bahadur Thapa of  Nepal Police Club (NPC) 21-9, 21-16 and Devkota saw off Akhil Shrestha of Zest.

Deepak Bohara, Bishnu Katwal and Jeevan Acharya also advanced to the second  round in the men’s singles event. Bohara battled to a 21-17, 19-21, 21-15 win  over Armyman Pabin Lingthep, Katwal beat Aashish Tamang of Zest 21-8, 21-10 and  Acharya defeated Priyanshu Singh Chhetri of APF 21-14, 21-11.

Joining them in the second round were TAC trio Praful Maharjan, Diwas Shankar  and Rukesh Maharjan along with Prince Dahal of Silk Group. Praful beat Anish  Khatiwada of Zest 21-7, 21-11, Shankar defeated Gokul Tamang of Swayambhu 21-9,  21-13, Rukesh got the better of Suman Limbu of APF 21-13, 21-16 and Dahal  stunned Indra Mahata of APF 21-12, 21-10.   

Bishal Pradhan and Bimal Shrestha of APF teamed up to beat Mohan Gurung and  Rupak Shrestha of Dhading 21-9, 21-10 in the men’s doubles. Joining them  in the second round were Manoj Dagaura-Bijay Baniya, Pemba Sherpa-Priyanshu  Singh Chhetri, Deepak Bohara-Jeeven Acharya, Narendra Bom-Anish Khatiwada,  Suman Limbu-Joseph Adhikari, Anish Shrestha-Gaurav Dahal, Sunil Joshi-Gautam  Singh Kathayat, Dipak Rana-Ashish Tamang, Sudeep Sedai-Sajan Krishna Tamrakar,  Niranjan Devkota-Purna B Thapa, Prince Dahal-Nir Bikram Devkota and Hira  Rai-Sonam Khapangi.

The tournament features singles and doubles events in both men’s and women’s  categories along with mixed doubles, U-19 boys’ and girls’ championships. It also features three age-group competition for veterans. In all, 287  shuttlers are taking part in the annual tournament organised in memory of  former APF Inspector General late Krishna Mohan Shrestha.

Meanwhile, Kamal Bhandari, Pranab Khanal, Samyak Bajracharya,  Jitendra Pariyar, Anil Shahi, Ivanhoe Lissanevitch and Santosh Khatri entered the  quarter-finals of the 11th Sahabir Memorial Open Lawn Tennis Tournament. Bhandari eased past Chhewang Lama 6-0, 6-1, Khanal beat Gaurav Pratap Shahi 6-0, 6-1, Bajracharya saw off Paul Martin 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, Pariyar inflicted  a double bagel on Ram Bahadur Rokka, Shahi battled to a 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 win over Nabin Magar, Lissanevitch overcame Pradip Khadka 6-2, 6-3 and Khatri also inflicted a double bagel on Manoj Khatri.