38-year old Durga Kunwar in his professional outfit may give you jitters. For he is an SSP at the Armed Police Force. Many would also remember him as a cricketer, as he played last edition of Pepsi-Standard Chartered National One Day tournament.
However, this uniformed man is seen playing tennis at the courts in Saatdobato of the capital valley for the National Games, both in singles and doubles event. He qualified for the Nationals after he finished as winner of doubles event at the Inter Government Service tournament, along with Durj Rai, who is AIG at the APF. Along with doubles title, he finished as runner up in the singles event.
Kunwar is the head of the Disaster Management Training Center and the main man behind forming cricket team of APF. Interestingly, there are 7 players from APF team, selected for the national side. Given the controversy of matting pitches and grounds with uneven bounce prepared for cricket in the National Games, he seems to be worried. “I am confident of our team’s win, but the news in the papers has got me worried,” he said, adding, “I am in talks with our captain Paras Khadka over the issue. It seems outfield is bad and would hamper fielding. Fielding is important in such format of the game.”
Kunwar has played tennis since he joined Police in 1998. He lost his first singles match against Sri Ram Magar on the first day and told us, somewhat sheepishly, “Had I not qualified for Tennis, I would be playing cricket for APF at the Nationals.”
Santosh Sharma is a player participating in the shooting event at the National Games. He can be seen shooting with 10 meter air rifle at shooting range in Satdobato of the capital valley.
But Sharma was once a cricketer. This 33-year old from Dhanusha used to run around the district to be able to play a match, be it any level. The former wicketkeeper had once been a goalkeeper.
His reason for taking up individual sport is also interesting. He says, “In team games, one or two player can ruin the match, if they play badly. It doesn’t matter how well you play alone. So, I took up shooting, an individual sport.”
He has been involved in shooting for past 12 years or so. He qualified for the National Games after finishing at the top at district and second at the regional level. He says, he has trained for 4-5 months for the nationals in the practice range in Mahendranagar of Dhanusha.
For someone who used to block – being a goalkeeper and wicketkeeper – it would be interesting to see how well he fires.
(Ed: The images have been provided by Bijay Rai)