The Nepali equestrian squad scored 82 points in the team lance for the silver medal. The team comprising Khad Bahadur Karki, Dhurba Prasad Aryal, Khil Dhoj Khadka and Lal Bahadur Kunwar finished behind India in the event. India bagged gold medal with 104 points while the host Sri Lanka took bronze medal with 80 points. [break]
Captain Karki said that Nepal´s poor performance in the first round cost them gold medal. “We failed to perform well in the tent pegging and to come back in second round was not possible.”
Earlier in the first round, Nepali players finished in the fourth position of pair lance. The pair of Khad Bahadur Karki and Khil Dhoj Khadka finished fourth with 13 points. Dhurba Prasad Aryal and Lal Bahadur Kunwar were also not up to the mark.
Karki said that Nepali players did not know the rules of the game so they failed to win medal in the pair event. "We did not know the rules of the game prior to the match that cost us the event." Pakistan won gold and silver while India settled for bronze.
VOLLEYBALL
Nepali men´s volleyball team is out of the tournament from the league round. Nepal lost to India in two straight sets on Wednesday. India took both the sets 21-13, 21-14.
Earlier, in the late evening matches of Tuesday, the pair of Sanjay Aryal and Iam Bahadur Magar defeated the Maldives in two straight sets but they lost against the host Sri Lanka in next match. Aryal and Magar´s pair defeated Maldives 2-0 and lost to Sri Lanka in 2-1 sets.
After Wednesday´s defeat, Aryal said that they were tired after two late matches on Tuesday. “We received four service points from India and later we could not move due to tiredness.”
In the women´s volleyball, Nepal still has chances of winning medal despite the loss against host Sri Lanka. Now Nepal will compete against India for the bronze medal. The pair of Chuda Khadka and Nita Shah lost to the host 21-9, 21-10. Khadka said that they could not do anything against Sri Lankan players. “We were behind from the first set and could not come back in the second.” Coach Bharat Shah said that the team´s target will be the bronze medal.
HANDBALL
Nepali handball team is out of the tournament from the league round after it lost both matches on Wednesday. Nepal faced 2-0 defeat at the hands of India in the morning match and in the afternoon match Nepal was again defeated by Afghanistan in two straight sets.
Nepal lost the first set 10-5 against India and the second 14-4. Nepal gave a tough fight to Afghanistan in the first set to score 18-14 but lost the second by 16-6. Captain Sandesh Regmi said that the team has gained good experience from the tournament. “We were unaware of playing in the beach but now we know it and will improve in the future tournaments.”
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