Kathmandu, April 27:

Nepal Government, through the National Sports Council (NSC), finally rewarded the medal winners of the 10th South Asian Games (SAG) and 15th Asian Games (Asiad) with cash prizes here today.

As proclaimed by the government before the events, seven SAG gold medallists — Deepak Bista and Manita Shahi in taekwondo, Sulochana Sijakhwa and Kushal Shrestha in karate, Raj Kumar Rasaili and Bina Lama (Khadka) in wushu, and Kamal Bahadur Adhikari in boxing — in Colombo received Rs 200,000 each. Nepal had won nine gold medals in Colombo but the two won by athlete Rajendra Bhandari were scrapped after he tested positive for the performance enhancing drugs.

Also, 14 SAG silver medallists got Rs 125,000 each while the members of the karate team were presented with Rs 65,000 each. Nepal had won 15 silver medals in colombo. Likewise, bronze medal winners in individual events received Rs 65,000 each while members of the team events got Rs 40,000 each. Nepal had won 31 bronze medals in SA .

Taekwondo bronze medallist in Doha Asiad Deepak Bista, Manita Shahi and Ayesha Shakya were also awarded with a cash prize of Rs 180,000 each. Apart from the players, coaches and the associations that won the medals during the events were also presented with the cash prizes.

Nepal Taekwondo Association, Nepal Shito Ryu Karate Association, Nepal Weightlifting Association and Nepal Wushu Association received Rs 300,000 each for being able to earn gold medals. The associations that earned silver medals — Athletics, Boxing, wrestling and judo — were awarded with Rs 100,000 each. Bronze medal winning associations — badminton, table tennis, swimming, football, volleyball and squash — got Rs 50,000 each.

Cash prizes for coaches ranged from Rs 75,000 to 20,000. In all 28 coaches, including senior, assistant and foreign coaches, received the award.

Speaker of the Parliament Subhash Chandra Nembang, Finance Minister Ram Saran Mahat, State Minister for Education and Sports Mohan Singh Rathaur and heads of the security forces gave away the cash prizes.