Kathmandu, July 27:

Business houses and sports lovers on Sunday came forward to sponsor and help the Oly-mpians, who are going to take part in the Beijing Olympics.

A total of eight players are representing Nepal in the Beijing Olympics slated for August 8-24. Taekwondo ace Deepak Bista qualified for the Games while seven others received wild cards. The wild card entries are judoka Debu Thapa, lifter Kamal Bahadur Adhikari, swimmers Karishma Karki and Prasiddha Jung Rana, athletes Arjun Kumar Basnet and Chandra Kala Thapa, and shooter Fulmaya Kyapchhaki.

At the gala dinner organised by Nepal Olympic Committee to honour the Olympians, Him Electronics of Golchha Organisation announced a reward of Rs 500,000, Rs 400,000 and Rs 300,000 to the gold, silver and bronze medal winners respectively. Gita Rana of NPABSON announced a cash award of Rs 50,000 to Deepak Bista and Rs 25,000 each to other players.

Nepal Pharmaceutical Pvt Ltd and Newa force said they would provide Rs 50,000 each to the team, whereas FNCCI President Kush Kumar Joshi announced Rs 100,000 and promised to ask the other businessmen to raise funds for the Olympians.

Ganesh Enterprises announced a Suzuki GN 125cc motorcycle each to the athletics players and the coach if they break the national records. Nepal Judo Association President Deepak Harsha Bajracharya promised to give Rs 25,000 per win to judo player Debu Thapa, Rs 50,000 each to the players finishing in top eight and a carpet apiece to all the players.

Everest Insurance Pvt Ltd announced the $100,000 worth accident insurance and $ 25,000 worth medical insurance to all the players. Akira TV promised a television set and DVD player each to the national record breaking players, while Samsung announced Deepak Bista as the brand ambassador.

Nepal Athletics Association vice president Sita Ram Maskey, who is also the chef-de-mission of the Nepali squad, announced Rs 25,000 each to the national record breaking players and an award of one million rupees to marathon runner Arjun Kumar Basnet if he broke Baikuntha Manandhar’s South Asian rec-ord of 2:15:03. Nepal Weightlifting Association announced a cash award of Rs 25,000 to lifter Kamal Bahadur Adhikari.

Minister for Sports and Education Pradeep Nepal, Nepal Olympic Committee (NOC) President Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan and Member Secretary of National Sports Council and NOC General Secretary Jeevan Ram Shrestha among others were present on the occasion.