KATHMANDU, Aug 27: Nepal’s Tara Devi Pun set a new national record in the women’s weightlifting in 75-kg weight category at the ongoing 18th Asian Games held at JI Expo in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Sunday.

However, Nepal’s poor performance at the ongoing event continued as most of its medal-prospect players in various sports disciplines have been eliminated from the tournament.

Nepal’s 18 sports disciplines have already ended their Jakarta journey including football, taekwondo, wushu, cycling, fencing, shooting, swimming, wrestling, pencak silat, 3-on-3 basketball, archery, sports climbing, badminton, kabaddi, golf, tennis, squash, and volleyball.

A total of 123 athletes from Nepal have ended the tournament among the 187 players participating the event under 29 sports disciplines. Only 64 players are left in the fray now. 

Nepal’s number one women weightlifter Pun lifted 74 kg in snatch and 101 kg in clean and jerk to set a new national record. She lifted a total of 175 kg in the women’s 75-kg weight category.

She had the record of 73 kg in snatch, 97 kg in clean and jerk and a total of 152 kg in the Asian Games selection round held in Kathmandu recently.

“I have improved my performance in each and every tournament and I am satisfied with this result because we had a short time for preparation,” Pun said after setting the record. 

Apart from Pun, two other weightlifters have set new national records in their respective weight categories at Jakarta: National flag bearer Kamal Bahadur Adhikari and Sanju Chaudhary. 

Pun finished at the eighth spot among 10 players, while North Korea’s Jong Sim Rim bagged the gold medal, Uzbekistan’s Omadoy kissed the silver medal and South Korea’s Minhee Mun got the bronze medal. 

Boxing

Bishnu Prasad Ghale Gurung ended his run at the games as he suffered a 5-0 defeat at the hands of Qatar’s Thulasimaaran Tharumalingma in the round of 16 of men’s welter 69-kg weight category. Similarly, Prem Chaudhary went down to Rogen Ladon of Philippines by 5-0 in the same round of the men’s fly 52-kg weight category.

Karate

Nepal’s Sonam Lama lost to Vietnam’s Van Hai Nguyen 3-0 in men’s karate of 60-kg weight category on Sunday. Likewise, Bijay Lama suffered a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Hiroto Shinohara in round of 16 in the men’s 67-kg weight category. 

Similarly, Sunita Maharjan lost to Thailand’s Arm Sukkiaw 4-1 in the women’s 61-kg weight category.
Meanwhile, Diwas Shrestha has qualified for the quarterfinal in the men’s 84-kg weight category but his opponent is yet to be decided for the match to be played on Monday. Likewise, Anu Adhikari will take on Ching Cheung of Macau on Monday.

Table Tennis

Nepal women team made a poor start in table tennis as it went down to Malaysia 3-0.
Nepal yet again failed to register a victory against Singapore as it went down 3-0 to Singapore in the second group stage match. Nepal was drawn in Group D in the women’s category. The team will play against Hong Kong, Vietnam, and North Korea in its group matches on Monday. 

Similarly, Nepal suffered a 3-0 defeat against China in the men’s category. The team will face Laos on Monday.

Sepak takraw

Nepal suffered a 2-0 loss at the hands of China in the men’s preliminary Group B match. Nepal will play against India on Monday. 

Athletics 

Yam Sajan Sunar ended at the bottom in the qualification round of men’s 100-meter race late Saturday. Sunar had also finished last of the heat round. Sunar ended his race in 11.39 seconds to stand in the 34th position among the 35 participating players.

At the end of the 8th day, 37 nations have won medals in Jakarta. A total of 45 nations participated in the Asia’s biggest sporting event. China has proved itself as a sports powerhouse of Asia by winning 73 golds, 57 silvers, and 34 bronze medals. Japan is in the second spot with 39 golds, 32 silvers and 45 bronze medals. 
 

 
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• Nepal
 
• Jakarta
 
• weightlifting