NEPALGUNJ, April 10: Five events of the Eighth National Games are set to kick off in different cities on Wednesday, while the official inauguration of the tournament will be held on April 18. 

Squash will be played at the Squash Academy at Satdobato in Lalitpur of Province 3, while the other games will be held in different venues of province 5. Table Tennis will be held at Ghorahi Covered Hall in Dang, wrestling at Siddhartha Campus in Kapilvastu’s Jitpur, hockey at Nepalgunj’s Mangal Prasad School and lawn tennis in Butwal. 

Likewise, women’s hockey will be held at Sutra School in Nepalgunj’s Khajura on April 13. The five games are among the 14 that will be played before the inaugural tournament. 

Apart from Wednesday’s games, boxing, kabaddi, judo, basketball, chess, full contact karate, cycling, fencing, and golf will be played before the inaugural day.  

A total of 35 different games will be played at the national games. Paragliding has been included among the games for the first time in the games’ history. Non Resident Nepali (NRN) team will take part in the games for the first time. 

A total of 2,825 men and 238,6 women players will participate in the games. They will compete for 372 gold and silver medals, and 563 bronze medals. 

Two provinces not to play squash 
Two provinces will skip squash scheduled to be played in Lalitpur, while departmental team Tribhuvan Army Club will also not feature in the game.  Province 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and two departmental teams—Nepal Police Club and Armed Police Force (APF) Club—will participate in squash. A total of 24 men and five women players will feature in the games. They will participate in three categories: men’s singles, women’s singles, and men’s team event. It will be played on April 15. 

Nine teams in men’s hockey 
A total of nine teams including defending champion Army, Police, and all seven provinces will be participating in men’s hockey. The teams will be divided into two groups. The games will be played in league-cum-knockout format. The final will be held on April 17.
Likewise, women’s hockey will be played on April 13. A total of six teams—Provinces 1, 2, 3, 4, defending champion 7 and Army—are divided into two groups. The tournament will be played in league-cum-knockout format as well. The final will be played on April 18. 

NRN in lawn tennis 
The NRN team will also take part in lawn tennis to be held in Butwal, joining Provinces 3, 4, 5, Army and APF. There will be six categories: men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles, team event and mixed doubles. A total of 28 men and 15 women players will play in the tournament which concludes on April 15. Three men players Samrakshyak Bhushan Bajracharya, Amrit Paudel from Australia and Dawa Sherpa from Thailand will take part. 

Nine teams in wrestling 
A total of 20 events, 10 each in men’s and women’s, will be played in wrestling with nine teams—seven provincial teams including Army and Police—will participate. 

Table tennis 
A total of 120 players from seven provincial teams and three departmental teams will feature in table tennis. They will feature in men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles, team event and mixed doubles.

 
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