Lalitpur, September 4

Ministry of Youth and Sports today honoured eight players with National Talent Award here at the International Sports Complex today.

Athlete Hari Kumar Rimal, footballer Kiran Kumar Limbu, para-taekwondo player Sita Bhandari, judoka Manita Shrestha Pradhan, archer Jit Bahadur Moktan, shuttler Nangshal Tamang and volleyball players Em Bahadur Rana Magar and Pratibha Mali got the awards. Volleyball players Magar and Mali — who shared the award — received Rs 50,000 each, while other athletes bagged Rs 100,000 apiece.

Badminton coach Kiran Thapa and karate coach Deepak Shrestha were named the best coaches, while Nepal Weightlifting Association was declared the best association. All three winners received Rs 100,000 each. All Nepal Lawn Tennis Association and Nepal Badminton Association received letter of appreciation. At the same programme, the National Sports Council felicitated players, coaches, association, sports journalists and employees on the occasion of its 54th anniversary.

In all, 316 players were feted with cash reward for winning medals in international tournaments last year. A total of 103 players won gold, 84 bagged silver and 75 claimed bronze medals in individual events in various tournaments, while Nepali players won 28 silver and 24 bronze medals in team events. The gold, silver and bronze medal winners in individual and team events got Rs 15,000, Rs 8,000 and Rs 4,000 respectively.

Likewise, NSC honoured Makawanpur District Sports Development Committee Chief Khumraj Dahal and badminton coach Meghraj Kathayat with the excellence awards in administration and technical departments respectively. Danakuta District Sports Development Committee Chief Nabin Pradhan and football assistant coach Prakash Malla got the best employees’ awards, while Rama Koirala of administration department and taekwondo assistant coach Parshu Narayan Bohara were awarded with Service Awards.

Also, Senior Officer Kamal Khanal got four-tola silver for his 25 years of service at the NSC, while 163 other employees got three-tola silver for completing 20 years at the sports governing body.

Also, sports journalists Mukunda Dahal of New 24 Television, Raju Silwal of Nepal TV, Ajay Phuyal of Nagarik, Niranjan Rajbanshi of BBC, Himesh Ratna Bajracharya of Kantipur and Nabin Aryal of Nepallive received the media awards. They got Rs 10,000 each along with felicitation letters.