Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: Nepal’s women’s national volleyball team registered a win on the second day of the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya.
However, Nepali athletes suffered defeats in karate and table tennis.
Nepal’s karate campaign produced no medals on Sunday, while both men’s and women’s table tennis teams lost their opening matches.
In volleyball, however, Nepal defeated Kyrgyzstan in straight sets to advance to the playoff for the ninth-to-12th bracket.
Karate
Nepal’s medal hopes in karate suffered a major setback as all three athletes who competed in kumite on Sunday lost their semifinal and bronze-medal bouts.
Arika Gurung, who won a historic silver medal at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, lost 8-7 to Saudi Arabia’s Dina Ahmed Mostafa in the bronze-medal bout in the women’s over-68kg category.
Gurung had earlier defeated Jordan’s Yara Nasser 7-1 to reach the semifinals. However, she lost 2-1 to Kazakhstan’s Safya Berultseva.
Min Bahadur Tamang also missed out on a medal in the men’s under-60kg category. After reaching the semifinals with a 4-1 victory over Hong Kong’s Him Chou and 2-0 win over Tajikistan’s Mirzojoda Muhammad, Tamang lost 10-1 to Kuwait’s Shahab Abdullah in the semifinals.
He then lost 2-0 to Saudi Arabia’s Saud Abdulaziz Albasher in the bronze-medal bout.
Rakesh Manandhar was eliminated from the men’s under-55kg category after losing 7-0 to Uzbekistan’s Khalimov Khumoyunmirzo in the semifinals. He subsequently lost 9-1 to Malaysia’s Kaliyana Sundram Thevendran in the bronze-medal contest.
Manandhar had earlier defeated Thailand’s Ingloy Nathakrit 9-0.
Similarly, Sanumaya Thing was eliminated in the round of 16 of the women’s individual kata event at the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.
Thing lost 5-0 to South Korea’s Choi Ha-woon at Toyohashi Gymnasium on Sunday.
The defeat brought her campaign in the women’s individual kata event to an end at the round-of-16 stage.
Table tennis
Nepal made a losing start in both men’s and women’s team events.
In Group C of the men’s competition, Nepal lost 3-0 to Chinese Taipei at Sky Hall Toyota in Nagoya.
Rubin Maharjan lost 11-5, 11-1, 11-7 to Lin Yun-Ju in the opening match. Sangyog Kapali then went down 11-5, 11-5, 11-4 to Hung Jin-Kai.
With Nepal needing a win to stay in contention, Ganjanaya Dahal lost to Feng Yi-Hsin 11-3, 11-2, 11-0.
Nepal’s women’s team also suffered a 3-0 defeat, losing to China in Group A.
Ivana Thapa lost 11-1, 11-6, 11-5 to Chen Yi, while Nabita Shrestha was beaten 11-4, 11-3, 11-4 by Kuai Man. Yonggi Paudel also lost 11-1, 11-5, 11-1 to Fan Shuhan.
Volleyball
Nepal secured its first win in the women’s volleyball competition, beating Kyrgyzstan 3-0 in the playoff for ninth to 14th places at Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park Gymnasium.
Nepal won 25-20, 25-16 and 25-20 to advance to the playoff for ninth to 12th places.
Nepal, who earlier faced straight-set defeats to Japan and Indonesia, will face Hong Kong on Monday.
Wushu
Sabita Rai finished 11th among 13 competitors in the women’s taijiquan event at the Aichi Prefectural Martial Arts Hall.
Rai scored a total of 8.653 points, including 5.00 in taijiquan, 2.603 in taijijian and 1.05 in other technical components.
Earlier in the day, Bijay Sinjali finished 19th among 21 competitors in the men’s changquan event.
