Kathmandu, Sept 21

Sanjay Memorial Foundation of Tansen felicitated national volleyball players Sanjay Aryal and Manju Gurung here today.

Naya Shakti Nepal’s Coordinator and former Prime Minister Babu Ram Bhattarai handed over Rs 25,000 each and felicitation letters to the men’s team vice-captain Aryal and women’s team vice-captain Gurung amidst a function.

The foundation felicitated the duo for their contribution in the game for more than a decade, informed  patron of the foundation Niroj Maskey, who is also the vice-president of Nepal Volleyball Association.

Aryal, who plays for Nepal Police Club in domestic events, made his national team debut against Bangladesh in 2006. He was also in the squads that took part in the 10th South Asian Games (Sri Lanka, 2006), 11th SA Games (Bangladesh, 2010) and 12th SA Games (India 2016).

Aryal was one the key members of the national team that won bronze medal in the first South Asian Invitational Men’s Volleyball Championship held in Kathmandu in 2013. He has claimed dozens of domestic tournaments with the NPC.

Similarly, Gurung, who plays for Western Region in domestic circuit, has a couple of international medals in her kitty. She was the member of the Nepali teams that bagged bronze medals in the 10th and 12th SA Games and silver medal in the first South Asian Invitational Women’s Volleyball Championship held in Nepal in 2014. She also helped her club to win number of domestic tournaments.

Bhattarai said that honouring the players was proud moment for him. “The nation is reluctant in the development aspect of sports and the players need to take charge by holding executive posts at the national associations,” Bhattarai said. “There are irregularities in sports governing bodies and the corrupted persons are leading the sector. Involvement of politically motivated persons have ruined sports. So players should be in that level as they understand the importance and value of sports,” he said.

Volleyball player Aryal accused the newly-elected executive committee of Nepal Volleyball Association of failing to come up with concrete plans for the future of the players. “The committee does not have any plan for the secured future of the players. Nepali players are also not getting enough training facilities before tournaments,” said Aryal. “The departmental teams have been getting better facilities than the national team members.”

Similarly, Gurung said that such felicitation encourages the players to be serious in the game. “Honours and felicitations boost the players’ morale and they also become more responsible,” she said.

Meanwhile, foundation’s President Bishwo Bishay Joshi said that the objective of the felicitation was to encourage the players.