KATHMANDU: Lions Club of Kathmandu Horizon (LCKH) is running a campaign to felicitate record setting taekwondo star Deepak Bista.

The LCKH said that it hopes to collect a whooping amount to present the player as a felicitation for his achievement in the recently concluded 11th South Asian Games in Dhaka. Bista won gold medal in Dhaka to became the first player to have won four successive gold in the South Asian Games.

The LCKH is hoping the tourism entrepreneurs of Thamel, Pokhara and Sauraha among others to come forward to chip in for the noble cause. “Even if nobody comes forward we the members of the LCKH will reward him (Bista) with at least Rs 500,000 and an appreciation letter on March 20,” said the campaign coordinator Lion Ram Sharan Thapaliya here at a press meet on Wednesday.

“We are making this effort to encourage the future stars to make their nation proud with similar achievement,” added Thapaliya. The LCKH President Ishwor Bahadur Gurung said that they are considering to contribute in the sports section in future. “We are involved in the social activities so far but we will also do something for sports now on,” added Gurung.

Bista is also the only second Nepali player after Sangina Baidya, also a taekwondo player, to have earned the Olympic Games qualification.

Oracle honour

KATHMANDU: The 11th South Asian Games taekwondo gold medallists Deepak Bista and Ayesha Shakya were felicitated here on Wednesday. Oracle Rey Academy feted the taekwondo duo with appreciation letters as well as Rs 5,000 and Rs 3,000 respectively. Director of the school Suwarna Shrestha honoured the players on the closing day of the inter-school taekwondo tournament.