Paris Olympics: Nepal competing in shooting and swimming today

KATHMANDU: Under the Paris Olympics 2024, Nepali athletes are set to compete in shooting and swimming events today (Sunday).

In shooting, Sushmita Nepal will participate in the 10m air rifle event, which is scheduled for 9:30 am French time.

Similarly, Duwana Lama will compete in the heat stage of the 200m freestyle swimming at 12:05 PM French time.

Earlier, on Saturday night, Nepali players faced challenges as Santu Shrestha in table tennis and Prince Dahal in badminton were defeated in straight sets.

In this 33rd edition of the Paris Olympics, Nepal is represented by 7 athletes across 6 sports: 3 male and 4 female athletes.

Alexander Shah will compete in the men’s 100m freestyle, while Duwana Lama will also swim in the 200m freestyle.

In shooting, Sushmita Nepal will challenge competitors in the 10m air rifle event.

Manita Shrestha Pradhan will represent Nepal in judo under the 57 kg category, and Santoshi Shrestha will compete in the marathon (42.195 km).

All athletes, except Santoshi, are currently in Paris. Santoshi is expected to arrive on July 30, with her event scheduled for August 31.

This is the debut Olympics for all seven Nepali athletes.

Notably, Nepal is participating in table tennis and badminton for the first time since the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

Santu Shrestha qualified for the Paris Olympics by finishing first in the South Asian Olympic Qualifying Tournament held in Nepal.

Santu is the third Nepali athlete to achieve this feat in the Summer Olympics, following Sangina Baidya, who represented Nepal in the 2004 Athens Olympics, and Deepak Bista, who qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.