Departmental giants Tribhuvan Army Club secured three more golds in athletics on Thursday, the last day of the Ninth National Games, to wrap up the track and field events in Pokhara thereby ending up at the top of the table.

The Army team claimed both men’s and women’s 4X400m relay apart from men’s triple jump gold by Dilli Khatri as they racked up 19 of the 37 athletics gold medals on offer. The departmental team also bagged 13 silver and bronze medals each.

Nepal Armed Police Force (APF) Club secured second position in athletics, earning 10 gold, silver and bronze medals each to finish ahead of Nepal Police Club who secured two gold, seven silver and six bronze medals.

Bagmati finished fourth with two gold, one silver and four bronze medals and Lumbini gathered two gold, four silver and a bronze medals. Gandaki took one gold and silver each, along with two bronze medals. Karnali were placed seventh with a gold and silver each. Sudurpaschim walked away with a bronze while Province 1, Madhesh and Non Resident Nepali Association (NRNA) went medal-less.

Army players Som Bahadur Kumal Ram Prasad Tharu, Jeevan Chaudhary and Prakash Dunuwar earned the men's 4X400m relay clocking 3 minutes 18.36 seconds. With the relay gold, Kumal also took his gold medals tally to three in the National Games after winning 400m and 800m sprints.

APF’s team of Nir Pratap Mahato, Ashish Chaudhary, Shivaraj Parki and Sandip Nepali secured bronze at 3:25.82 finishing ahead of Police team. Police sprinters Amrit Bot, Sahan Chandra Shah, Tej Bahadur Karki and Arun Mahato Tharu walked away with bronze at 3:29.35.

Army’s women’s team of Olympian Saraswati Bhattarai, Jayarani Tharu, Nirmala Thapa and Kaleshi Chaudhary secured top finish in women’s 4X400m relay clocking 4:02.78. It was also the fifth gold for Jayarani Tharu, who bagged the highest number of gold medals in athletics. Tharu had earlier secured top honours in 100m and 400m hurdles, 4X100m relay and long jump.

Lumbini comprising Nisha Tharu, Samjhana Tharu, Aruna Rijal and Ramkumari Tharu won the silver, clocking 4:14.80. Bagmati walked away with a bronze at 4:22.779. Anju Khadka, Rajina Dulal, Swagata Khaiju and Santoshi Shrestha represented team Bagmati.

Though APF sprinters had finished the women’s event with better timing, they were disqualified after the departmental team’s player changed track before finishing 500m, paving the way for the second placed Army to secure the top position.

Day worth remembering for Parki brothers

Parki brothers Gopi Chandra and Shivaraj’s wait for winning gold on the same day got materialised after the former won men’s 5000m gold and his sibling Shivaraj the 200m gold on Thursday.

The duo who represent APF had wished to celebrate their victory earlier, as Shivaraj, the younger brother, claimed the 100m gold in record time. However, Gopi Chandra had to satisfy himself with a silver in the men's 10,000m.

Gopi Chandra faced tough competition from Karnali’s Durga Bahadur Budha, the twin gold medalists in 10,000m and steeplechase. But his dream of celebrating gold with Shivaraj finally materialised after he secured top finish in 5000m.

Gopi Chandra clocked 14:29.67 while Budha took 14:29.93 to finish the race. Army athlete Mukesh Pal walked away with bronze at 14:36.60. In the last edition of the Games in 2019, Gopi Chandra and Budha were the top two runners in the event with the former securing the top honour.

After winning the gold, Shivaraj said: “I was more worried about my brother, but I am overwhelmed to see him win gold,” he said of Gopi Chandra who had won 5000m gold during the Seventh and Eighth Games as well.

“The National Games is like the Olympics for us. It feels special to win gold here. I had expected that I would also win gold in the 10,000m but I got limited to silver,” he said.

Gopi Chandra also said that now he would be more focused on marathon rather than other races. “The 5000m is my best event. Though I wanted to give up the middle distance race, the event has a special place in my heart, so I took part this time and also made a hat-trick at the National Games. But now I will focus on the marathon.” Gopi Chandra had also secured the 5000m gold at the 2019 South Asian Games (SAG).

Meanwhile, the 30-year old Shivaraj emerged as a new sprint star at the Games, winning three golds. He added 200m gold to his tally of 100m and 4X100m gold, besides silver in the 4X400m relay.

Shivaraj clocked 21.91 seconds to finish 200m with gold. His APF teammate Ashish Chaudhary took silver with a timing of 22.05 and Yubaraj BK of Army walked away with bronze at 22.50.

Nisha Chaudhary wins 200m gold

Lumbini Province’s Nisha Chaudhary, who had finished runner up in 100m sprint, claimed women’s 200m gold, clocking 25.24. APF’s Ramita Kumari Tharu won silver at 25.95 and Laxmi Saud of Police took the bronze, clocking 27.52.

APF’s Shila Chaudhary took women’s triple jump gold with a leap of 11.01 metres to earn her first gold of the Games. Sima Chaudhary of Police earned silver with a jump of 10.76m and Ranjita Rai of APF won bronze at 9.91m.

Men’s triple jump gold went to Army’s Dilli Khatri who leaped 13.55m. He was also a silver medalist in long jump. Chandra Dev Joshi of Police (13.55m) and Sudip Mahato of Bagmati (13.44m) walked away with the silver and bronze, respectively.

Tharu, Parki best players

Army sprinters Jayarani Tharu and APF’s Shivaraj Parki were named the best female and male athletes at the National Games. Tharu finished with five gold and Parki with three golds and a silver medal.

Tharu, who has been representing the Army team for the last four years, said that her ambition would be to win an international medal. “I will work hard to win a medal at the South Asian Games now,” she said.

APF dominate football

Meanwhile, APF Club’s both men’s and women’s team won gold medals in football at the Ninth National Games.

In a thrilling final at the Pokhara Stadium held before the closing ceremony, APF men defeated Army in the sudden death after the match was taken to penalties following a goalless draw across the regular and extra time.

The scores were even at 4-4 after five attempts in the shootout. In the sudden death, APF goalkeeper Raju Nagarkoti denied Army’s Suman Aryal before Bishwash Udas kicked in the winning goal to secure gold for Army.

Earlier, APF’s women’s team conquered Police 2-1 in the final to win the gold for a third consecutive time.

Sabitra Bhandari scored both goals for APF—the winners at the Seventh and the Eighth National Games.

Niru Thapa pulled one back for the Police.

Bhandari tops the goal-scoring chart with 14 goals to her name. She has also scored in each of the games she has played this edition.

Army won bronze after they humiliated Province 1, 7-0 in the third-place playoff. Ashmita Karki scored a hat-trick for Army.

APF win men’s volleyball

APF won the men’s volleyball gold defeating Army in straight sets in the final.

APF eased past their departmental rivals 25-21, 27-25, 26-24 in Myagdi to win their second title in volleyball—their first after the Sixth National Games.

The victory means APF have won both men’s and women’s gold in volleyball. APF’s women's team had beaten Police 25-19, 28-26, 24-26, 25-19 in the final on Wednesday.

Police won bronze with a 26-24, 25-15, 25-18 win over Gandaki in the third-place playoff.

Army top Police in hockey

Army won the gold medal in men’s hockey. Army overcame Police 2-1 on penalties in the final after the match was held to a goalless stalemate.

Roshan Chaudhary and Pradip Rajbanshi netted for the Army.

Police’s Nabin Chhetri scored, but Sashi Darlami missed, thereby surrendering the match.

This is the second straight time that the Army have beaten Police in the final at the Games. Army had defeated Police to win the gold at the Eighth National Games.

Gandaki won the bronze medal defeating Karnali 3-0.