KATHMANDU, June 15: Blue Diamond Society has taken the initiative to organize the first ever national sports competition for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI).
Organizing a press meet on Friday, founding president and director of Blue Diamond Society, Sunil Babu Pant, said that they are organizing the tournament with the support from the government of Australia to show the people that LGBTIs are capable to compete like others. [break]
Pant informed that the tournament will bring all Nepali LGBTIs in one platform. He also welcomed international players to participate in the tournament. Blue Diamond Society informed that the sports meet will take place from October 12 to 14 at the Dasharath Stadium and feature around ten games, including football, volleyball, basketball, athletics and taekwondo.
Pant informed that more than 200 LGBTI players have already registered for the games and even foreigners have sent request for participation. “We have received 20,000 Australian dollars for the tournament from the government of Australia under its Australian Sports Outreach Program," Pant said. The tournament is managed by Nepal Sports Foundation.
Table tennis team off to India
KATHMANDU: A 14-member table tennis team left for Shilong, India, on Friday to participate in the South Asian Junior Table Tennis Tournament scheduled to start from June 17 in the north-east Indian state. The tournament is the qualifying event for the upcoming Asian Junior Table Tennis Tournament. Mani Lama, Anish Shrestha and Bilosh Shrestha are competing in junior boys´ section while Kajol Rauniyar, Sunita Lama and Manita Chitrakar are competing in junior girls´ section.
In sub-junior boys´ section, Krishna Thapa Magar and Rojojman Thaku are competing while Swikriti Shrestha and Sonu Thapa are competing in sub-junior girls´ category. Nepal will compete in six junior and four sub-junior categories.
GoldenGate, Navodit register wins
KATHMANDU: GoldenGate A and B, Navodit and Premier Lions registered wins during the Ruslan Big Bucks 3x3 Open Basketball Tournament on Friday. In the matches played at GAA Hall, GoldenGate A edged past South Siders 15-14 with six points each from Karma Gurung and Bipindra Maharjan. B team of GoldenGate defeated Leaders 21-14 with nine points from Sushil Gurung. Rajiv Joshi´s 12 points guided Premier Lions for a 21-6 win over South Siders A. Navodit beat GoldenGate C 16-13 with seven points from Bishal Tamang. Similarly, Manish Raj Rajopadhyaya´s four points helped GoldenGate C for a 9-4 victory over Premier Tigers.
Dangol, Maharjan off to winning starts
KATHMANDU: Bijay Dangol and Manoj Maharjan of host Annapurna School started the Eighth Nationwide Inter School Maitri Chess Tournament with wins on Friday in U-15 boys´ category. Success Shrestha, Raj Prajapati, Nitesh Adhikari, Devansu Ghimire, Suraj Lohani and Ramchandra Devkota also registered wins. In girls´ section of the same age group, Matina Kusi, Kumudini Pant, Rachana Pun and Aarati Pandey won their respective matches. In U-13 boys´ section, Pranay Chand, Shankar Tiwari, Process Shrestha, Thomas Neupane, Subash Chhetri and Jenish Thapa were victorious. In girls´ section, Bina Jaishwal, Karina Bhomjon, Aakrati Pandey, Yarika Moktan and Renu Koju won their respective first round matches. Altogether 197 players from 36 schools are competing in the three-day tournament.