In course of winning the record fifth singles title of her career, Shrestha had a comfortable 21-7, 21-11 win over her colleague Nangsaladevi Tamang. It took only 18 minutes for Shrestha, 30, mother of a four-year-old boy child, against Tamang who had made to it the final of the first national championship after she got byes in the quarterfinal and the semifinal. [break]
Shrestha, however, did not seem totally happy with her victory. “I am not much happy with the title as my friend Saradevi Tamang pulled out from the semifinal due to injury,” said Shrestha who started playing since 2052 BS.
Earlier, winner Shrestha had won the title in 2055 BS, 2056 BS, 2062 BS and 2065 BS. Rita Adhikari (2031 BS, 2032 BS, 2034 BS and 2039 BS) and Kalpana Rana (winners of four consecutive editions from 2042 BS to 2048 BS) are the other players to win the title four times.
Shrestha bagged a purse of Rs 20,000 along with trophy. Gopal Bahadur Shahi and Man Bahadur Shahi has set up a revolving fund of Rs 300,000. The amount will be increased to Rs 500,000 next year.
Following the defeat, Tamang said that she could not perform well as she was unable to give enough time for training.
In men´s singles, top ranked Shrestha of NPC faced a tough challenge to defend his title from Ratnajit Tamang of APF. In the three-set match that lasted for 50 minutes, Tamang won the first set 23-21, but lost the remaining two sets 19-21, 19-21. Tamang is the younger brother of Nangsaladevi.
The first set was competitive from the beginning and Tamang was able to take only one or two points lead from beginning to end. But, Shrestha made a good start in the second set and took a nine-point lead during the middle of the match with a score of 11-2.
Giving the second set an interesting finish, Tamang recovered from 10-18 to 19-20 but could not overcome his opponent. The decisive last set became even more competitive with the score tied at 11-11. But Tamang could not prove to be strong against his opponent when it was most needed.
“My own mistakes during the last moments of the match cost me dearly,” Tamang, 18, said adding that Shrestha was senior to him.
Shrestha, also selected for the Asiad, said that he was under pressure to win the match at any cost. “As my team police had not won any singles title in the tournament I needed to win the title,” Shrestha said, adding that he also made mistakes by conceding negative points to the opponents. “It is difficult to play with juniors."
In men´s doubles, Shrestha and his younger brother Bivek´s pair lost to Ram Rai and Bimal Shrestha´s pair of Lalitpur 21-17, 21-19 in straight sets. After the defeat, elder brother Shrestha said that he was exhausted to play doubles after playing the singles match. “My brother played better than me and it is my first doubles experience.” Bikash said.
APF won the highest seven gold medals out of 12 in the tournament organized by Lalitpur District Badminton Association. Altogether 417 players including 116 women participated from 28 districts and three departmental teams.
Winners
Men´s singles : Bikash Shrestha (NPC)
Women´s singles: Puja Shrestha (APF)
U-19 men´s singles: Sajan Krishna Tamrakar (APF)
U-19 women´s singles: Puna Gurung (Kaski)
U-15 boys´ singles: Dipesh Dhami (APF)
U-15 girls´ singles: Shikshya Shrestha (Chitwan)
Men´s doubles: Bimal Shrestha-Ram Rai (Lalitpur)
Women´s doubles: Puja Shrestha-Nangsaladevi Tamang (APF)
Mixed doubles: Puja Shrestha-Indra Mahato
Veterans´ doubles: Hemanta Pal-Surendra Bahadur Singh
Men´s team event: APF
Women´s team event: APF
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