Khatri had given some hope to the dispirited Nepali team with her first round victory at the Lanjiang Gymnasium on Monday. Before that, the Nepali team had not achieved a single win in the games being held in Nanjing, China.
Khatri defeated Dina Besisso of Jordan in the 52-62 kg category. She was declared the winner after 2 minutes 3 seconds. She immobilized her opponent for 15 seconds, forcing the Jordanian to lie flat on the mat. She earned two points on the basis of wazari to emerge victorious.
However, she was defeated in the second bout and crashed out of the event. Her defeat came just half an hour after her first round victory. She was defeated by Mongolia´s Khongojul Battulla applying a choking technique. Though Khatri made an aggressive start, she could not resist simewaja (lock to the opponent´s neck) of Battulla. Khatri was defeated in 1 minute 48 seconds in the four-minute bout.
With the completion of the third day in the Games, Khatri became the first Nepali athlete to earn victory in at least one match. Earlier, Him Parwa Khatri of judo, Manita Chitrakar and Mani Kumar Lama of table tennis and Aslesha Lissanevitch and Avishek Bastola of tennis were defeated in the first round matches of their respective events.
Experienced judoka Khatri said the Mongolian player took advantage of her weaknesses. "I would not have played being pinned down had she not got a hold of my neck. I couldn´t resist her simewaza move.
Khatri, the winner of Asian Junior Judo Championship, however, expressed satisfaction over her performance. "I gave my best in such a big competition. And I am happy for what I achieved," said Khatri.
Judo coach Hemraj Bhandari said that changes to some rules created difficulties for the Nepali team. "Some international rules of the game have changed and I also got confused regarding the changes. Simewaja used to be applied only in big events like the Olympics and Asian Games. But it was applied at the junior level here," Bhandari lamented.
Dhital fails to meet personal best
Female swimmer Aditi Dhital failed to meet her personal best in women´s 50m breaststroke on Monday. Dhital finished at the bottom clocking 44.74 seconds to complete the distance. Her personal best time is 43.24 seconds. Bibidha Rimal holds the national record of 40.07 seconds in the event.
Dhital acknowledged that she failed to achieve her target. "I had set a target of improving my personal best," lamented Dhital, adding that she did not have enough preparation for the event. It was the second international participation of Dhital who had competed at the Asian Junior Championship last year. Dhital will compete in 200m freestyle on Tuesday.
Among the six events representing Nepal at the games, swimming has the highest three participants. On Tuesday, record-holder swimmer Sirish Gurung will compete in men´s 200m freestyle.
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