Kathmandu, December 16

Himalayan Sherpa Club and Yeti Airlines renewed the sponsorship contract ahead of the Qatar Airways Martyrs Memorial A Division League here today.

HSC President Karma Tsering Sherpa and Sales and Marketing Director Saral Sumsher Rana exchanged the Memorandum of Understanding amidst a signing ceremony. The title sponsor of the club for the third straight year, Yeti Airlines will provide the HSC with two million rupees.

Thanking the Yeti Airlines for its continuous support, HSC President Sherpa said the agreement would help the club in its bid to finish in top four. “We have not prepared the team to win the league this time around as we have retained around 80 per cent players and added young ones in the squad,” said Sherpa. “We have become a kind of supplier and we feel proud to see the footballers produced by our club playing for various sides in the league.”

Sherpa also remembered the efforts of prominent tourism entrepreneur Ang Tshering Sherpa — who died in a chopper accident along with the then minister Rabindra Adhikari earlier this year — in building the club. “He had a dream of taking the club to a new height but unfortunately we lost him. I am grateful to his son, Norbu, who took the initiative and decided to support the club in his bid to continue his father’s dreams,” said Sherpa, who is also the president of All Nepal Football Association.

Senior Manager of Yeti Airlines Bhim Raj Rai said the company was sponsoring the club under its Corporate Social Responsibility.

“We have been doing a lot of contribution to the society through the CSR initiative and we joined hands with HSC to help Nepali sports,” Rai said. “Our Managing Director Ang Tshering Sherpa wanted to make a difference in society apart from doing business.

We had supported the club in previous years and his family decided to continue the agreement to keep his dreams alive.”

HSC, who finished seventh in the previous edition, will open the campaign with a match against Nepal Police Club on Tuesday.

Coach Sanjeev Budhathoki was confident of faring well in the league. “We are not in the race to win the league and we will try to give our best to fulfil the club’s target of finishing fourth,” said Budhathoki.