Sports
Dhami, Tamang into semis of Pushpa Lal Memorial Badminton Championships
National champion Dhami will meet former national champion Bikash Shrestha the semi-final.Top-ranked Dipesh Dhami and Ratnajit Tamang entered into the semi-finals of the ninth Pushpa Lal Memorial Ranking Badminton Championships in Itahari on Thursday.
In the men’s singles event for top-seeded 16 players on Thursday, Nepal Armed Police Force (APF) Club’s Dhami defeated Rukesh Maharjan of Tribhuvan Army Club 21-16, 21-16 while Tamang of Army saw off Sunil Joshi of Nepal Police Club 21-10, 21-13. Tamang will face fellow Armyman Nabin Shrestha, who defeated Praful Maharjan, also of Army, 13-21, 21-11, 21-15, for a place in the final. National Champion Dhami will face former national champion Bikash Shrestha in the semi-final. Bikash beat Jiwan Acharya of Nepal Police Club 21-7, 18-21, 21-11.
In a separate men’s open singles category, Pawan Linthep of Nepal Army got past Riyaz Ansari of Banke 16-21, 21-7, 21-11 to earn last four berth. Linthep will meet Priyanshu Singh of APF in the semi-final. Singh defeated Indra Bahadur Mahata of APF 26-24, 21-19. Devraj Rana of Kailali and Nirajan Devkota of APF also entered the semi-final. Rana beat Purna Bahadur Thapa of NPC 21-16, 21-15 while Devkota edged Pranish Singh Thakuri of Jhapa 21-15, 21-14.