SATV, Kathmandu, Sept. 22 - Day three of the 20th Asian Games brought more disappointment for Nepal as athletes continued to struggle across multiple disciplines in Aichi-Nagoya on Monday.
Entering the Games with ambitions of a double-digit medal haul, the national contingent underwent a three-year preparatory cycle under "Mission 2026”. This was supplemented by residential closed training.
However, following karate star Arika Gurung’s early exit on Sunday, which left the delegation downcast, Monday offered no respite as Nepali competitors failed to spark any turnaround.
Karate and Boxing setbacks
In karate, Nirupa Dong Tamang was knocked out by Hong Kong’s Cheuk Lee, losing 3-0 on points.
Boxing, another discipline carrying high expectations, bolstered by a special training stint in India and the credentials of IBA World Boxing bronze medallist Chandra Bahadur Thapa, also suffered a sluggish start under coach and Asian medalist Deepak Maharjan.
Dan Bahadur Darlami exited in the preliminary round of the men's 70kg division, beaten 5-0 by Iraq’s Ali Qasim Hamdan Al-Sarray.
The judges scored the bout unanimously 30-27, 30-27, 29- 28, 30-26,
and 30-26.
Attention now turns to Thapa, who fights in the men’s 55kg category on Tuesday, alongside Ramisha Shrestha in the women’s 51kg event.
Boxing remains one of Nepal’s most successful Asian Games disciplines, accounting for six bronze medals across three editions.
Kabaddi and Wushu struggles
The men’s kabaddi team endured a losing start in Group A, going down 59-48 to Thailand at the Tokai
Citizen Gymnasium.
Nepal earned 18 bonus points and 29 touch points, while Thailand accumulated nine bonus points, 43 touch points, one super tackle, two green cards, and six all-out points.
Trailing by just four points at the interval after scoring 24 in each half, the Nepali men conceded a seven-point deficit in the second period.
Nepal face Pakistan and Iran on Tuesday, followed by Malaysia
on Thursday.
Wushu yielded similar frustration. In the women’s changquan final, Sushmita Tamang finished 13th overall with 9.580 points. Hong Kong’s Hui Yu Lydia Sham claimed gold with 9.713 points, followed by Macau’s Cho Man Sou (9.710) and Indonesia’s Eugenia Diva Widodo (9.706).
In the men’s taijiquan final, Hari Prasad Gole placed 12th with 9.630 points, while China’s Dewen Liu secured gold with 9.780.
In the women's sanda 60kg quarter-finals, Rita Thakulla lost 2-0 to Turkmenistan’s Merjen Jorayeva.
Gole also finished 14th in the taijijian final with 9.506 points, where Liu took another gold with 9.780. Reflecting on the results, Tamang noted a stark disparity in standards.
"We gave our best, but there is a vast gap between us and the top teams," she said, highlighting the superior quality of the competition mats compared to the low-grade surfaces used at home and during overseas training camps.
Gole echoed these sentiments, suggesting that regular exposure to top-tier opponents and world-class training facilities would yield
different outcomes.
Table Tennis and Soft Tennis woes
In table tennis, Nepal's women suffered their second consecutive defeat in the team event, losing 3-1 to Macau after a 3-0 scoreline against China.
While veteran nine-time national champion Nabita Shrestha bounced back from two sets down to level the tie against Macau by defeating C Kuan (4-11, 3-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-9) after Evana Thapa’s opening defeat to Y Zhu (11-2, 11-1, 11-3). Nepal dropped the next two matches.
National champion Yonggi Paudel lost to O Leong (11-5, 11-4, 9-11, 11-2), and Y Zhu sealed Macau's victory by overcoming Shrestha (11-2, 11-4, 11-5).
The men’s team fell in straight sets to Bahrain, with Sanyog Kapali, Rubin Maharjan, and Gananjaya Dahal
all defeated.
The women’s team later faced another setback in a classification match, losing in straight sets to Hong Kong (20-25, 19-25, 26-28).
In soft tennis mixed doubles, Kamal Bhandari and Georgia Chaudhary endured a mixed outing in Group F, opening with a 5-0 defeat to Chinese Taipei’s Kai-wen Yu and Shih-Yuan Huang, recovering to edge Mongolia’s Khaliunbayar Khurelbayar and Khongorzul Ganbold 5-4, before losing 5-1 to Indonesia’s Fernando Sanger and Siti Arasy.Swimmers
Swimmers eliminated in heats
Nepal's swimming contingent also faced an uphill battle, exiting early from the heats.
In the women's 50m backstroke, Aarya Maharjan clocked 33.40 seconds to finish 27th out of 31 competitors.
Duwana Lama was placed 19th in the women's 200m freestyle with a time of 2 minutes 15.40 seconds. In the men's events, Jaden Shrestha finished 30th out of 36 in the 100m breaststroke (1 minute 8.01 seconds), while Ervin Shrestha was placed 38th in the 50m freestyle (24.56 seconds) and 36th in the 100m freestyle (54.03 seconds).
Abhiv Pradhan had competed in the 100m freestyle on Sunday, finishing 28th in 52.74 seconds.
Nepal still has five swimming events remaining, with Lama (100m freestyle, 100m breaststroke), Maharjan (100m freestyle), Pradhan (50m butterfly), and Shrestha (50m breaststroke) yet to take to the pool.
Likewise, Nepali women’s national volleyball team suffered a straight-sets defeat to Hong Kong, losing 25-20, 25-19, 28-26 in a classification match at the Asian Games.
