In the women´s singles, Nangsal Devi Tamang fought back from the first set down to dethroned Pooja Shrestha and take away the title. [break]
Earlier, Shrestha of Nepal Police Club (NPC) had a hard fought win over Dhami of Armed Police Force (APF) with a score of 21-16, 16-21, 21-19.
With the match tied at 1-1 by the end of the second set, vigorous teenager Dhami took lead in the third set and looked more threatening early on but Shrestha, with all his experience, turned the tide in his favor to win the thriller 21-19.
“I was expecting to play a rematch with Ratnajit Tamang,” said Shrestha, referring to the semifinalist who had defeated him in Krishna Mohan Memorial Badminton Tournament some months ago.
“But Dipesh defeated him in the semifinal and played very well against me,” he added. “I was eager to win because I had to make a hat-trick,” he said.
Although it was his second win in a row in the National Games, Shrestha had also won the national championship held in between the games to become the national champion for three straight time.
Meanwhile, Nangsal Devi Tamang lost the first set but made a comeback in the game to register a 14-21, 21-18, 21-15 win over the top ranked player. “It is the result of my hard work,” said Tamang after the victory.
When asked how she felt about her elder sister Sara Devi, who was not allowed to play in the national games by Nepal Army, she breathed a sigh of relief and said, “I am glad that she was not here, otherwise I wouldn´t have got a chance to win the title.”
Samjhana Khaling and Sabina Panthi, both from APF, finished joint third.
Nangsal Devi Tamang
In the women´s doubles, Tamang teamed up with Shrestha to beat the pair of Samjhana Khaling and Sabina Panthi 21-11, 21-14 in the all-APF final to lift gold.
The pair of Poonam Gurung and Prativa Gurung of Western Region and the pair of Mina Shrestha and Sujana Shrestha of APF finished third.
Meanwhile, the pair of Bishal Pradhan and Ratnajit Tamang of APF secured gold in men´s doubles final defeating Suraj Maharjan and Ram Rai of Central Region 21-19, 21-13.
The pair of Bishnu Katuwal and Deepak Bohara of NPC and the pair of Pankaj Chand and Indra Mahata of APF secured bronze.
Judo
Central Region added another gold on Thursday to the overnight tally of seven golds to lead the overall standing by eight golds.
Narendra Dangol and Devendra Karmacharya won the gold in kata event to help Central Region maintain its grip at the summit.
Mohan Bam and Rajan Rokaya of Far Western Region clinched silver in the kata event while Rajan Shrestha and Shree Ram Makaju of NPC finished third.
Meanwhile, NPC also won one gold in women´s team event to stay hot on the heels of Central region with seven golds.
The NPC team, including Radha Devi Rai, Sushila Adhikari and Indira Rai, defeated the Central Region team that included Nabina Lama, Ranju Rai and Sunita Magar 2-1 in final. The Far Western team of Kabita Khadka, Sekha Shrestha and Sunita Bohara finished third.
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