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Record setters
Nepali players are new stars at SAG
by PRERANA MARASINI
| FROM ISSUE # 129 (September 2006) | IN THIS ISSUE | |||
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Nepali players have done their country proud at the 10th South Asian Games, winning medals and setting two new records. Rajendra Bhandari didn't just secure two golds, but also set a new record at SAG by completing the 5,000m race in 14:01:29', breaking his own national record of 14:04:89' set at the Athens Olympics in 2004. The previous South Asian Games record was 14:05:37, set by an Indian marathoner back in 1995. Bhandari became the second Nepali athlete to set a record at the South Asian Games. He also won another gold, in the 3,000 m steeplechase. 
Dipak Bista made a hat trick by winning a gold in the taekwondo welterweight category. This is his third consecutive gold in as many SAGs, and Bista is the second Nepali player after Baikuntha Manandhar to complete a gold medal hat trick at the Games.
Nepal's first gold in the Games, which came from Kamal Bahadur Adhikari at this year's SAG, was also a record breaker. Adhikari lifted a total weight of 266 kg: 113 kg in snatch and 153 kg in jerk. He broke the 150 kg jerk lifting record.
As of 28 August, the penultimate day of the Games, Nepal ranks fourth in the contest with 55 medals—nine gold, 15 silver, and 31 bronze. Last year Nepal was in the same position, but with only 33 medals. But it cuts both ways, and this year the gap between the winning teams has also widened. Last year, India topped the medals tally with 192 medals, while this time they are in number one position with 232 medals.