Gurung, Bhandari win Pulsar Sports Awards

Kathmandu, July 2

Yukesh Gurung of Paragliding and woman footballer Sabitra Bhandari won the Player of the Year awards at the Pulsar Sports Award here at the Nepal Academy today.

Gurung, the member of the Asian Games historic silver medal winning team, was awarded ahead of cricketers Paras Khadka and Sompal Kami, judoka Indra Bahadur Shrestha and golfer Sukra Bahadur Rai in the men’s section.

Footballer Bhandari, who played important roles in national team’s runners-up finishes in Hero Gold Cup in India and SAFF Championship in Biratnagar, won the women’s section award.

Star volleyball player Saraswoti Chaudhary, cricketer Sita Rana Magar, taekwondo player Nima Gurung and judoka Manita Shrestha Pradhan were the other nominees in the category. Gurung and Bhandari received Bajaj NS 160 motorbike each along with round-trip open destination tickets from Turkish Airlines.

The third Asian Youth Athletics Championship gold medallist Ajit Kumar Yadav was named the youth player of the year award, ahead of rising shuttler Prince Dahal, footballer Manjali Kumari Yonjan, cricketer Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi and karateka Bijay Shrestha.

Yogesh Bhattarai, the coach of Asian Games silver medal winning team, was named the best coach of the year. Hari Khadka (football), Dhaniram Chaudhary (athletics), Jagat Tamatta (cricket) and Gyanendra Bista (volleyball) were the other nominees in the category.

Volleyball player Reshma Bhandari won the People’s Choice Award with a total of 32 per cent votes. Footballer Sabitra Bhandari came second with 29 per cent. Shuttler Prince Dahal, cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane and bodybuilder Maheshor Maharjan were the other nominees in the category which was decided by SMS votes from public, Facebook likes and votes of sports journalists and chief coaches of national sports associations.

Paragliding made it a triple as the silver medal winning squad won the Team of the Year Award, while blind cricketer Manakeshi Chaudhary was named the Para-athlete of the Year. Veteran athlete Hari Bahadur Rokaya, who wrote his names in the Guinness Book of World Records on his way to winning three Everest Marathon titles, was honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award, while Amjad Aziz Malik of Pakistan was felicitated with Asian Sports Journalist Award.

The 16th edition of the Award, organised by Nepal Sports Journalists Forum in association with Action Sports and powered by Gold Star, featured 10 categories.

The winners of male, female, coach and people’s choice received Pulsar NS160 motorcycle each, while others got Rs 50,000 apiece. The winners and nominees also got Dish Home Set Top Box and gift hampers from Kelme Nepal, while the men and women sections winners received open-destination tickets from Turkish Airlines.

Hansraj Hulaschand and Company Limited — the authorised distributor of Pulsar motorcycles in Nepal — was the main sponsor of the Award, while National Sports Council, Nepal Olympic Committee, Surya Nepal Pvt Ltd, THT Live, Kelme Nepal, Avenues Khabar, Royal Singi Hotel, Timex, Crown Plaza Hotel, Sahas Sports and Emaging were the co-sponsors and partners of the programme.

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