KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 27

Nepal Sports Journalists Forum announced the dates of the Pulsar Sports Award and signed the memorandum of understanding with main sponsors Hansraj Hulaschand and Company Pvt Ltd here today.

The 18th edition of the award ceremony will be held at the Nepal Academy on March 22 and the NSJF has included eight categories.

NSJF General Secretary Prajwal Oli informed the Award would be held in a different manner compared to previous editions. 'The sporting activities were heavily affected last year due to the coronavirus and Nepali athletes were not able to participate in international events,' he said.

'So we have decided to consider athletes' performances over the period of a decade and felicitate accordingly in eight categories,' added Oli.

The Award features Player of the Decade (male), Player of the Decade (female), Coach of the Decade, Para-athlete, Special, Lifetime Achievement Award, Asian Sports Journalist Award and People's Choice categories. 'As it is the decided award, we have not included youth category,' Oli said. Winners of male, female, coach and people's choice will get Pulsar motorcycle each, while other four awardees will receive Rs 50,000 apiece and gift hampers.

NSJF President Durganath Subedi and Executive Director of Hansraj Hulaschand and Company Abhimanyu Golchha signed the memorandum of understanding.

Addressing the programme, Golchha said Bajaj was the all-weather friend of NSJF. 'We have been supporting the award selflessly under all circumstances.

We have invested more than Rs 20.5 million in the last 14 years and we would like to have another long term association with the NSJF,' he said.

'We are aware that sports in the only means that can unite everyone in diverse conditions as well and the Sports Award is the true platform for athletes,' said Golchha. 'We have been supporting Nepali sports through various sponsorships and we will keep doing so in future as well,' he added.

NSJF President Subedi thanked the Pulsar for its long association with the award and relentless support.

'The sporting sector was hit badly last year and we were not in position to prepare the list of nominees and winners due to the lack of international events,' said Subedi. 'We are organising the award just for its continuity as it is the most-awaited award programme of the country.

Apart from felicitating the athletes of the decade, we will also address the players who performed in the events held last year,' he added.

A version of this article appears in the print on February 28 2022, of The Himalayan Times.