KATHMANDU: Nepal Sports Journalists Forum (NSJF) on Wednesday announced seven players for the NSJF Pulsar Popular Player of the Year (PoY) 2009. The nominees include football players Rakesh Shrestha and Bikash Malla, cricketer Binod Das, swimmer Karisma Karki, chess player Manish Hamal, athlete Pramila Rijal and volleyball player Manju Gurung. The winner will be selected through SMS voting. The one who receives the maximum number of votes, voted through Nepal Telecom and Spice Nepal cell phone users will be declared winner. The winner will be awarded a cash prize of Rs 25,000, a Samsung camera, a carpet from Deepak Harsha Bajracharya and a gift hamper from Surya Nepal. The winner will be awarded in a ceremony scheduled for September 10. The voting lines have been opened from Wednesday and will last till September 9.

Jumanu Rai, a footballer of the Nepal Police, was awarded with NSJF Player of the Year Award in 2008 as he secured the largest number of votes among the nominees.