Rupak Memorial Award to Hari

Lalitpur, May 24 :

All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) awarded playmaker and striker Hari Khadka of Mahendra Police Club with the Rupak Memorial Best Player Award of 2005/2006 amidst a programme here today.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister KP Sharma Oli handed over Rs 100,000 and a Yamaha G5 motorcycle to Khadka. ANFA president Ganesh Thapa and Rupak Memorial Academy president Deep Kumar Upadhyaya were also present on the occasion.

Khadka, who hails from Chandragadi, Jhapa, has been an integral part of the national team since 1995. Khadka made his debut in upper league in 1995 for New Road Team and won the Martyrs’ Memorial title the same season. He was also the top goalscorer in that lea-gue. Impressed by his domestic performance, national selectors called him in the team.

ANFA has been organising the programme annually in memory of former national captain and FIFA referee Rupak Raj Sharma, who died in a plane crash in 1993 along with three other FIFA assistant referees — Shyam Shrestha, Hira Bajracharya and Roshan Shrestha.

Raju Shakya, Umesh Pradhan, Mani Shah, Deepak Amatya, Bal Gopal Maharjan, Dev Narayan Chaudhary and Upendra Man Singh were the past winners of the award.