KATHMANDU, Jan 19: Departmental teams Nepal Police Club (NPC) and Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) have advanced into the final of the ongoing 28th Men's National Football Tournament under the National Sports Council (NSC) Championship on Friday.
In the semifinal match played at Dang in Tulsipur, NPC defeated the other departmental team Armed Police Force (APF) 2-1 with two second-half goals in the 53rd and 91st minutes by Hem Rana and Suman Lama respectively. APF went ahead in the 17th minute with a strike from Deepak Khadka.
In the other last-four matches played at Ghorahi, TAC saw off Far-western Region 2-1 and was behind by 0-1 in the first half as well. The match was overturned after Erik Bista striked in the 69th minute, while Rajiv Gurung scored the decider in the 71st minute.
The final will be played on Saturday after the third-place match to be played at Ghorahi.
Hockey
Departmental team Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) and Far-western Region have set the summit clash of men's category in the ongoing 17th Men's and second Women's National Hockey Tournament on Thursday.
TAC, NPC into last four
At the Institute of Forestry in Hetauda, TAC defeated Western Region with a big margin win of 5-0 in the last four match courtesy of a brace from Pradeep Rajbanshi and a goal each from Dipendra Air, Sher Bahadur Rokaya and Kashi Raj Rai.
In the other semifinal clash, Far-western secured a narrow 3-2 victory over Eastern Region in which Dhirendra Chand, Deepak Raj Joshi and Keshav Raj Joshi scored for the winning team, and Sushil Soren and Manoj Chaudhary bagged a goal each for Eastern.
Western and Eastern will now face each other for the third place on Friday.
In the women's category, TAC and Western registered wins in the tournament played in the round robin league format.
TAC overcame Central Region 1-0, while Western saw off Eastern with the same scoreline on the same day. Seeta Maya Bal scored the winning goal for TAC, while Sunita Magar scored for Western.
TAC, who is unbeaten in the tournament, is at the top of the standings with nine points, followed by Western on six points. Central is third with four points.
Taekwondo
Olympian Nisha Rawal has won a gold medal in the women's over 73 kg weight category in the ongoing 14th National Taekwondo Tournament on Thursday.
In the final match played at Nepal Taekwondo Academy in Satdobato, departmental team Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC)'s Rawal defeated Central Region's Sushma Gurung. Likewise, Armed Police Force (APF)'s Apsara Karki claimed the gold medal in the women's U-73 kg weight category defeating Nepal Police Club (NPC)'s Sumitra KC and NPC's Seeta Tamang bagged the gold beating TAC's Reshma Thapa in the U-67 kg weight category.
Similarly, in the men's over 87 kg weight category, NPC's Anoj Pujari secured the gold defeating TAC's Mohammad Besh in the final. Likewise, Central Region's Bhupen Pun saw off NPC's Durga Thapa to win the gold medal in the U-87 weight category while NPC's James Pradhan also won the gold as he overcame TAC's Ujjwal Guragain in the U-80 weight category.
Meanwhile, in boys' poomsae over 20 age category, TAC's Shishir Shrestha and Central Ujjwal Shrestha bagged golds, while NPC's Kamal Shrestha and Central's Sujan Tamang won silver medals in the over 20 age category. Likewise, in the U-16 age category, APF's Nabin Shrestha and TAC's Krishna Tamang claimed gold medals.
In girls' poomsae over 20 age category, TAC's Nita Gurung won the gold medal, while NPC's Parbati Gurung secured her silver. Likewise, in the U-20 age category, Eastern Region's Sina Moden won the gold medal as she beat TAC's Roshani Shrestha, while NPC's Monika Ramtel grabbed the gold medal, while Central's Rita Shrestha won the silver in the U-16 age category.
A total of 176 players featuring for eight different teams which included five regional teams and three departmental teams had participated in 22 categories of the tournament. The tournament will conclude on Saturday.
