Amrit came from a set down to defeat the defending champion 3-11, 12-10, 11-4, 11-7 in the final held at the Satdobato Squash Academy, Lalitpur.
The defeat ended Hira Bahadur´s unbeaten run in the national tournament for almost two decades. Hira Bahadur, a bronze medalist at the Ninth South Asian Games, had dominated the game at the domestic level during his illustrious career by winning every national tournament since 1994. [break]
Despite the defeat, Hira Bahadur looked quite delighted. “I´ve played for a long time. And I was wishing for the new generation to take over from us provided that they were better than us,” he said.
“I was still hopeful that I could win one more time but my son played quite well. I couldn´t keep up with his pace. He played power game and gave continuity to it till the end. He is a rising player of the new generation,” he added.
This was the second time that the father and son had met in a final. Earlier, the two had faced each other in the final of the Nationwide Men´s Singles Squash held on the occasion of World Squash Day last October. On that occasion too, Amrit had defeated his father in four sets to claim the title.
After Saturday´s victory, Amrit said, “I wasn´t disappointed after losing the first set because I knew my father´s weaknesses. He is a little weak in nick ball and I exposed his weakness by playing power game.”
Suresh Gurung and Suraj Shrestha finished joint third in the event.
The winner, runner-up and third position holders bagged a purse of Rs 5,000, Rs 3,000 and Rs 2,000 respectively.
Amrit also won the junior boys´ title on the final day. He defeated Arhant Keshar Singh 12-10, 11-6, 11-4 in straight sets to defend his title and secure two golds in the tournament.
Pravin Gurung and Deepak Thapa both finished third in the event.
To add icing to the cake, Thapa´s sister Krishna Thapa also won gold in the women´s singles category. She defeated Bipana Blon 11-7, 11-3, 11-5 in straight sets for the title to cap a memorable day for the Thapa family.
Sneha Bansal and Manjila Ale Magar finished third in the event.
The winner received Rs 3,000 while the runner-up and the third position holders bagged Rs 2,000 and Rs 1,000 respectively.
In the junior girls´ section, which was included in the tournament from this edition, Bipana Blon won the title defeating Manjila Ale Magar 11-7, 9-11, 11-5, 11-3.
Swasthani Shrestha and Sapana Blon both secured third positions.
In the masters´ above-45 years category, Sudeep Bahadur Singh defeated Ratna Kaji Shakya 11-2, 11-5, 11-7 for the title. Bidur Dhamala and Ajay Keshar Singh finished third.
In the plate championship of the masters´ above-45 years section, Lokendra Man Singh Bhandari won the title while Akash Sunuwar finished first in the plate championship of the junior boys´ section.
Arhant Keshar Singh was declared the emerging player in overall category while Deepak Thapa (U-15) and Akash Sunuwar (U-13) bagged the same honors in their respective age groups.
National Sports Council (NSC) Member Secretary Yuvaraj Lama and Nepal Squash and Racquet Association (NSRA) President Bhushan Krishna Shrestha gave away the awards during the closing ceremony of the championship sponsored by Capital Grill Pvt Ltd.
Altogether 58 squash players had participated in eight different categories during the tournament.
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