Nepal’s swimmer Duana Lama failed to progress beyond the Heat in the women’s 200 m freestyle event at the Paris Olympics 2024 on Sunday.

Lama took 2 minutes 20.74 seconds to complete the distance, finishing last in the Heat 1 and in the 30th position overall at the Paris Aquatics Centre. A total of 31 swimmers representing 27 countries had entered the event.

Players with top 16 times in the Heat qualified for the semi-finals.

Lama’s timing in Paris could not even beat her previous best of 2 minutes 12.46 seconds.

Gaurika Singh holds the national record in the women’s 200 m freestyle with 2:11.94 seconds.

Coach Nayana Shakya said Lama was suffering an ankle injury which affected her performance in the pool.

“She arrived at the pool following a three-day treatment and physiotherapy. But she bravely did it,” said Shakya.

Lama’s exit from the Heat is not surprising however. Since making a debut in Atlanta 1996, a total of 13 swimmers have now represented Nepal in the Olympics swimming pool but none have succeeded in progressing past the Heat.

Alexander Shah, who is competing in the men’s 100 m freestyle, is in action on Tuesday.

-Nepal finish 42nd in shooting-

Shooter Sushmita Nepal also could not do much as she finished in the 42nd position in the women’s 10 m air rifle qualification event.

Nepal scored 104.2 in the first series, 101.7 in the second, 100.7 in the third, 99.9 in the fourth, 102.2 in the fifth and 98.8 in the sixth for a total score of 607.8 at the National Shooting Centre in Chateauroux.

Only Luna Solomon of the Refugee Olympic Team finished below her with a score of 601.2.

Only the top eight shooters reached the final round.

Shooter Nepal holds the national record of 619.1 in the event which she set during the selection tournament of the 19th Asian Games.

Nepal has regularly participated in shooting at the Olympics since Seoul 1988—except for Rio 2016.

The country has sent women’s shooters in the 10 m air rifle event to all the Olympics except for Rio 2016 and Athens 2004—Nepal did not participate in shooting in Rio and sent men’s athletes in the 10 m air rifle event in Athens— but none has made it to the finals.

-Prince Dahal lose to world number two Axelson-

Nepal’s badminton star Prince Dahal lost his opening match of the Group P to Tokyo 2020 gold medallist and Rio 2016 bronze medallist Viktor Axelson of Denmark.

Dahal, who is ranked 172 in the Badminton World Federation’s men’s singles rankings, lost the game 21-8, 21-6 to the Danish world number two at the Porte de la Chapelle Arena in Paris.

Dahal, who entered the Paris 2024 on universality spot, will meet Ireland’s 43rd seed Nhat Nguyen on Monday and Israel’s 58th seed Misha Zilberman on Tuesday.

A total of 41 players (from 36 countries)—split into 13 groups of three or four—are competing in the men’s singles badminton. The group winners will advance to the knockout stage.

On Saturday, Santoo Shrestha crashed out of the table tennis competition from the preliminary round after losing his men’s singles match to Senegal’s Ibrahima Diaw 12-10, 11-3, 11-4, 11-5.

Santoo is the only third Nepali player to have qualified for the Olympics through a selection tournament after Sangina Baidya (Athens 2004) and Deepak Bista (Beijing 2008).

Judoka Manita Shrestha Pradhan will meet Marica Perisic of Serbia in the women’s 57 kg weight category Elimination round of 32 Pool A event on Monday.