Kathmandu, July 10:

Nepali cricketers Paras Khadka and Nary Thapa were awarded by the Best Emerging Asian Man and Woman Cricketer 2007 awards on the occasion of the 25th Anniversary of Asian Cricket Council (ACC) in Karachi on July 5.

Nary Thapa, who was invited to attend the ACC anniversary, received the trophy herself while Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) president Binay Raj Pandey received the male award on behalf of Khadka.

Khadka led Nepal to their fourth consecutive ACC U-19 Elite Cup in Malaysia where the alrounder scored 97 runs and took eight wickets to earn the man of the series award. Nary led Nepal to final of the ACC Women’s Cricket Tournament in Malaysia. The Nepali captain claimed 12 wickets in five games and was declared the women of the tournament.

On the occasion of ACC anniversary, Pandey also received the two other ICC Development Programme Awards from Asia Region 2007 — Best Junior Cricket Initiative and Photo of the Year (Sudarshan Ranjit). Nepal was named the winner of the two awards but only received the honours during the ACC Anniversary in Karachi.