Bagmati Province lifted the 15th edition of the Central President Running Shield, Nepal’s biggest sporting event in the junior category, with 36 gold medals. The province was provided with trophies and medals on the final day of the three-day event on the Dasharath Stadium premises on Friday.

The central event saw 686 players competing across six different sports—athletics, volleyball, kabaddi, karate, taekwondo and wushu. The players were selected through local and district-level selections before representing the province. Each province had 49 boys and 49 girls competing for 66 gold, 66 silver, and 98 bronze medals.

The winner of the tournament is decided based on the most number of gold medals. Bagmati, alongside 36 of the 66 gold medals, clinched seven silver and 11 bronze medals as well. They won 54 medals in total.

The central province was followed by the far-west. Sudurpaschim, the defending champions, finished second in the overall event with 14 gold medals. They also won 20 silver and 18 bronze, accumulating a total of 52 medals.

Bagmati and Sudurpaschim were the only teams to win gold medals in double figures.

Similarly, Bagmati dominated five of the six sporting events. Volleyball was the only event where Bagmati did not win any medals.

Nonetheless, Bagmati clinched 12 of the 26 gold medals in athletics, 8 of the 12 in wushu, seven of the 12 in taekwondo, both gold medals in kabaddi, and seven of the 12 in karate.

Meanwhile, third-placed Lumbini Province, with 33 medals in total, only bagged five gold medals. They won 13 silver and 15 bronze medals.

Gandaki and Karnali won four gold medals each. However, Gandaki, with more silver medals, finished fourth. Gandaki, gold medallist in boys’ volleyball, had 32 medals in total, including 11 silver and 17 bronze.

Karnali, on the other hand, had 29 medals under their belt to finish fifth. Apart from four gold medals, Karnali won six silver and 19 bronze.

Madhesh Province won 15 medals in total: three gold, two silver and 10 bronze.

Koshi were the only province to not win a single gold medal. The easternmost province, however, bagged seven silver and eight bronze medals.

Record setters

Alongside winning gold, Bagmati’s athletes were at the forefront in shattering records as well. Six of the nine new records in the 15th edition were set by Bagmati.

Prabin Rana Magar of Bagmati set an individual record in the boys’ 100m race by finishing in 10.76 seconds (previous record: 10.9).

“I finished second in the race in the previous edition, so I was practising hard. Still, I was not certain to win the 100m race, let alone set a new record,” Magar told the Post. “I was expecting gold in the relay though.”

While Magar won the gold with a new record in the 100m sprint, he was also involved in two other records, both in relay.

Magar’s team comprising Niraj Sah, Hasta Sunar and Shanta Bahadur Darai set a new record in the boys’ 4×400m. They finished the relay in 3 minutes 30.9 seconds—the previous record was 3 minutes and 31 seconds.

Magar, Darai and Sah had Subin Lama when the group set a new record in the boys’ 4×100m relay. They finished it in 43.4 seconds, an improvement on the old record of 44 seconds.

Magar, who bagged four gold medals in total, said that the wins have motivated him a lot. “I want to continue in athletics,” Magar said with a smile. “These wins have motivated me. I feel proud.”

Further, Bagmati’s girls also set new records in both 4×400m and 4×100m relay races as well. Dina Gopali, Anisha Tharu, Bhagawati Khadka and Asmita Bhujel finished the 4×400m relay in 4 minutes 12.8 seconds. (It was previously finished in 4 minutes 17.2 seconds.)

Gopali, Tharu and Khadka had Suruchi Moktan when the group set a new record of 51.9 seconds to finish the 4×100m relay. The race’s previous record was 54.2 seconds.

Tharu also bagged four gold medals in total. Donning a proud face after receiving the medals, she said she had made an all-out effort in athletics and still dreamt of becoming a great athlete.

Similarly, Sangita BK of Sudurpaschim, Narayani Bhandari of Gandaki and Rahul Sah of Lumbini were the ones who shattered the records in girls’ 400m, girls’ 800m and boys’ javelin throw, respectively. BK and Bhandari finished their races in 1 minute and 1.19 seconds (previous: 1 minute and 1.40 seconds) and 2 minutes and 17.9 seconds (previous: 2 minutes and 28.5 seconds), respectively.