POKHARA, Dec 9: In a historic event, Nepal women's national handball team secured silver medal after reaching the final of the sports discipline for the first time in 13th South Asian Games held in Pokhara’s multi-purpose covered hall on Sunday.
This is Nepal’s first medal in handball, men or women. Nepal lost 36-21 to India’s gold medal march.
India repeated its feat from the last edition, 12th SAG, held in its home venues in Guwahati, India.
Nepal women make winning start in handball
Menika led the scoring with the most, 13 goals, followed by Sonika and Nidhi Sharma who registered 11 and 8 goals, respectively. Goalie Nina Sheel, Deepshikha and Priyanka Thakur scored 1 goal each.
Nepal’s Bandana Rai was the best player with six goals in the match followed by Kabita Rai’s four, Nisha and Uma Rai’s 3 each and Ranjana Rai’s 2.
Bangladesh won bronze medal defeating Pakistan in the third-place playoff match with a scoreline of 21-15.
Men’s handball
Pakistan got best of its arch-rivals in the box-office final match against India securing gold medal in a nail-biting scoreline of 30-29.
The handball was included in the events since the 11th edition with Pakistan registering the first gold of the event. The team finished second in the last edition held in India against the home team.
Nusrat Bano scored most, five goals, for the winning team. Khalida Ramjaan registered four goals. Aashma Aaltaf and Saika Riyaz scored two goals each.
Similarly, Sri Lanka secured bronze in the event defeating Bangladesh 26-23 in the third-place playoff.
