The eighth National Games concluded on Wednesday with Gandaki Province officially declared as the hosts of the ninth edition.
Gandaki Province Sports Council Coordinator Sampanna Shrestha received the flag from National Sports Council Member Secretary Keshav Kumar Bista. Pokhara will be the main city to host the ninth edition of the games. The city had previously hosted the second National Games in 1983.
The closing ceremony was held under the lights soon after Tribhuvan Army Club claimed their final gold of the tournament with a slim 1-0 victory over Nepal Police Club in the men’s football to once again dominate the country’s biggest sporting event. The Armymen claimed a whopping 140 gold medals. They finished with a haul of 287 medals adding 81 silver and 67 bronze. NPC ended up second with 62 gold medal and Nepal Armed Police Force (APF) took 54. Province 3 were the leaders among the provincial teams taking 22.
Gandaki Province finished in fifth position with 12 and Province 1 had nine to their name. The Non-Resident Nepalese Association, competing in the Games for the first time, finished with six gold. The team comprised of athletes who reside abroad. The closing ceremony was marked by the march-past of the participating teams and cultural performances from Nepal Army and different other organisations.
The eighth National Games witnessed a confusion conclusion after organisers National Sports Council declared Nepal Police Club as the third place finishers although the final medal tally revealed it was in second place. Reading out an outdated medal tally, the emcee in the closing ceremony announced Nepal APF Club as second place finishers with 51 gold. The medal tally had NPC finishing third with 49 gold medals and were provided with the trophy according to the spot. The tally was prepared by the technical committee of the closing ceremony and included only 135 gold for team champions Army.
Cricket
Nepal Armed Police Force Club secured the men’s cricket gold medal after defeating Nepal Police Club by 32 runs in the final in Rupandehi on Wednesday. In the low scoring final, APF posted 110-8 before restricting NPC to 78-9 in 20 overs. APF opener Anil Shah scored a fluent 31 off 30 balls with four boundaries while Shankar Rana chipped in an invaluable 23. Apart from Shah and Rana, only Bhuwan Karki (11) was able to score runs in double figures. Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi took three and Sagar Dhakal claimed two wickets for NPC.
In reply Manjeet Shrestha top scored for NPC with an unbeaten 29 off 36 but could not avert his team’s defeat. Shrestha slammed two fours and a six but his effort turned out to be too little, too late.
Man-of-the-match, Kamal Singh Airee took 3-4 off his four overs, while Basanta Regmi and Sharad Vesawkar claimed two wickets each for APF. The Army club won the bronze medal match defeating Province 1 by 69 runs. Army scored 111-7 in 20 overs and restricted Province 1 to 42 in 10.5 overs.
Volleyball
NPC claimed the men’s and Nepal APF Club claimed the women’s volleyball titles in Khajura, Banke, on Wednesday. Police defeated archrivals Army club 25-18, 23-25, 25-20, 25-18 in men’s final. The women’s championship match saw APF register 25-11, 25-13, 25-19 win over Province 3. APF ended in third place in both men’s and women’s section.
Kul Bahadur Thapa of NPC was declared the best player in the men’s category while APF’s Saraswati Chaudhary was named the best women’s player. Both the players received Rs 10,000 each along with Laxmi Narayan Shrestha Memorial Volleyball awards.
Football
APF women’s football team defeated Tribhuvan Army Club on penalties in the final to claim gold at the Beljhundi Stadium in Dang on Wednesday. The match was decided from the spot after the regulation period finished in a 0-0 deadlock. In the tiebreaker APF prevailed 4-3.
The third place playoff saw Police beat Province 3 in sudden death penalty shootout after 1-1 draw. The tiebreaker finished 4-4 before NPC won in sudden death shootout.
Adarsha Dhakal is a sports reporter for The Kathmandu Post. He has been reporting on sports for more than a decade, focusing on cricket, basketball and sports features. He has been with the Post for over five years and has worked for various other national publications.
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