Cricket dominates at PoY awards gala

KATHMANDU, JUL 03 -

Cricket ruled the roost at the Pulsar awards for the year 2069, winning three top categories—best male, best coach and special award—out of the total eight categories at a gala organised by the Nepal Sports Journalists Forum (NSJF) on Tuesday.

As widely expected national cricket captain Paras Khadka was adjudged the best male player, while the title  of best female player was bagged by karateka Ganga Devi Adhikari during the award function at Nepal Academy. Jharana Gurung won the popular player of the year award.

Khadka led Nepal to two consecutive title triumphs—the ICC World Cricket League Division 4 and ACC Trophy Elite last year. The all-rounder, who cracked his maiden century in the ACC Trophy held in UAE, was adjudged the player of the tournament on the back of his 291 runs and nine wickets. He followed it up another player of the series title in the ACC T20 Cup where Nepal finished runners-up to Afghanistan.

“It is a great feeling to receive the award where there are players from all the games,” said Khadka who beat the challenges of karateka Sunil Lama who had bagged two international gold medals, Tilak Ram Tharu of athletics, Bharat Khawas of football and fellow cricketer Basanta Regmi to land the award.

While giving credit to his family and national team coach Pubudu Dassanayake for his success, the skipper added: “We still have a lot to do.”

In the women’s category, Adhikari overcame stiff competition from footballers Anu Lama and Jamuna Gurung for the coveted award. Also in the fray were swimmer Shreya Dhital who set a new national record in the London Olympics and Gurung who won Nepal’s first wushu gold in 18 years.

Adhikari had an exceptional year where the golden girl of karate did not lose a single bout on the domestic circuit, while adding three international gold medals to her kitty.

Gurung made up for her loss in the women’s category as she claimed the popular player of the year by a huge margin. She accumulated 71,806 votes for the award, leaving behind teen swimming sensation Sirish Gurung, record queen of

athletics Keshari Chaudhary, Khadka and footballer Jagjit Shrestha in the popular player category. Interestingly, no nominee from Pokhara has ever lost this title since the inception as Gurung became the third player from the lake city to be honoured with this title.

Volleyball players Manju Gurung and Sipora Gurung were the previous winners of the title in 2065 and 2067 respectively. The winners of the three categories received a pulsar motorcycle each. The players in the other categories received a cash prize of Rs 50,000 each. Likewise, cricket coach Dassanayake who transformed the senior team was honoured with the best coach award ahead of Nara Bahadur Shahi of athletics, Akbar Shah of karate, Ongden Lama of swimming and Yubaraj Gurung of wushu.

The former Sri Lankan international guided Nepal to two major international triumphs—the ICC World Cricket League Division 4 and ACC Trophy Elite—and a second place finish in the ACC T20 Cup at home.

National players lit up the award ceremony, walking on the runway, while actress Diya Maskey showcased a dance number that had the audience tapping their feet.

The youth award went to Chahana Bamjam Lama of wushu. The 18-year-old had won a bronze medal in the women’s 60 kg category of sansou at the Fourth World Junior Wushu Championship.

Former footballer and coach Bhim Thapa was felicitated with the life time achievement award.

President of Cricket Association of Blind Pawan Ghimire and visually impaired athlete and cricketer Bikram Rana received the Special and Para awards respectively.

Former armymen Ghimire formed CAB and has trained more than 400 visually impaired cricketers. Similarly Rana, who had made a major contribution in Nepal’s win over Bangladesh in the Blind World Cup, also bettered his won record in the last Paralympics in London.