Karate player Erika Gurung stood on the stage of Pokhara Hall with the same confidence on Wednesday after winning the Women's Player of the Year award for the second consecutive time. She said that her hard work has been further proven after receiving the NSJF Pulsar Sports Award for the second time.

‘I have been dreaming of the same dreams,’ she said, ‘I feel that winning this award again has further confirmed the hard work I have been doing.’ She dedicated the award to the Gen-G activists.

For the first time outside Kathmandu, Erica and cricketer Dipendra Singh Airi were named the best sportsperson of the year at the 22nd Sports Awards 2081 organized by the Nepal Sports Journalists Forum (NSJF) in Pokhara. Erica became the first female athlete to win this award for two consecutive years. She won two gold medals at the 8th South Asian Games in Bhutan, gold at the Australian Open 2024, silver at the Senior Karate Championship in China, gold at the Asia Pacific Karate Championship in Singapore, and silver at the World One League in Dubai. Karate's Alisa Magar, Khokhoki's Manmati Dhami, football's Rekha Poudel and volleyball's Salina Shrestha were nominated in the women's category.

Dipendra Singh Airi, who won the best male player award, has made a huge contribution to the recent success of Nepali cricket. He hit 6 sixes in a single over against Qatar in the ACC Premier League Cup 2024. He scored 370 runs and took 20 wickets in the year 2081.

He took 6 wickets in the World Cup held in the United States. He was also declared the best player of the first year of the Nepal Premier League (NPL). After receiving the award, he expressed his gratitude to the CAN and the role of the audience in the development of cricket. He said, ‘This award motivates the players.’ The players nominated in that category were Vijay Sinjali of Usu, Janak Chand of Khokho, Shantu Shrestha of table tennis and Kushal Bhurtel of cricket.

Himal wins ‘People’s Choice Award’

Himal Sunari, an influential volleyball player from Gandaki Province, has won the ‘People’s Choice Award’. He received 40.1 percent of the total votes. The players nominated for that award were Vijay Sinjali of Usu, Ivana Thapa Magar of table tennis, Pooja Mahato of cricket and Rekha Poudel of football.

Himal was the main player of the team when Gandaki won the Chief Minister’s Cup National Men’s Volleyball title. He was declared the best server in the third edition of the Tiger Cup. He received the award based on e-service voting, forum member votes, Facebook likes and head coach votes.

Ranabhat receives ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’

Pokhara’s first generation athletics player and coach Khadga Bahadur Ranabhat has been awarded the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’. He has been making Pokhara his workplace and has dedicated his entire life to Nepali sports.

As he approaches the eighth decade of his life, he has seen more than half of the history of Nepali sports with his own eyes. His sports career, which began in 1970, did not last long. Due to injury, he was unable to play in the 1972 Munich Olympics. He is a contemporary of Ganga Bahadur, Bhakta Bahadur to Jit Bahadur KC. This is the same generation that laid the foundation of athletics in Nepal. He remained active as the head coach of the National Sports Council in the 1960s and 1970s. He also played an important role in establishing the Pokhara Marathon, and helped establish the National and International Athletes' Association.

The greatest achievement of Nepali sports is Baikuntha Manandhar's historic performance at the 3rd South Asian Games held in Kolkata, India in 1987. Manandhar set a record of 2 hours, 15 minutes and 03 seconds in the marathon, which has not been broken yet. Ranabhat was the coach of the Nepali team participating in that competition. He was also the flag bearer when the Nepali team participating in the Olympics held in Los Angeles, USA, marched past in the opening ceremony.

After receiving the award, he recalled his sporting life during his time. 'In our time, there were no fast jerseys and shoes when playing the Asian Games,' he said, 'Now there are facilities, but discipline, perseverance and honesty are equally needed in the players.'

Para sports coaches and players receive awards

This year, three people have received awards in the Para Sports category at the Sports Awards. Para Taekwondo coach Kaviraj Negi Lama was named the Best Coach of the Year. Prabha Angdembe was honored with the Para Athlete Award. Para Olympian Palesha Govardhan received the Trail Blazer of the Year award, which began this year.

Palesha won a historic bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Paralympics under Negi's coaching. The Best Coach of the Year category was won by Deepak Maharjan of boxing, Kushal Shrestha of karate, Laxminarayan Shrestha of kho-kho and Mahesh Rijal of cricket. After receiving the award, Negi said, "I am only a volunteer coach, but I won this award, so I am very happy." This will inspire me to work harder in the future.'

While the award was previously given in 10 categories, this year the Trail Blazer of the Year category has also been added. Palesha received the award for the first time. She is the only Nepali athlete to win an Olympic medal. She said that the award was unexpected for her.

Gurung received the 'Special Award'

Tulsi Kumar Gurung of Pokhara received this year's 'Special Award'. Gurung, a former soldier who is making Hong Kong his home, received his ninth dan last year. In 2002, he established the Hong Kong Nepali Taekwondo Association. Since then, he has been contributing to the development of Nepali sports for three decades. In 2013, he also became the coach of the Hong Kong national team.

Recently, he also established the Fit Nepal Sports Complex in Pokhara. He is working to train young players in various sports there. After receiving the award, he said, ‘I am very happy to receive this award and I will always be proud of this achievement.’

Pooja becomes Young Player of the Year

Cricketer Pooja Mahato has been declared Young Player of the Year. She was the captain of the team that qualified the Nepali U-19 team for the first time in history for the Women’s World Cup.

She scored the highest 272 runs and also took 10 wickets in that qualifying match. She scored 130 runs while remaining unbeaten against Kuwait. She also captained the team when they defeated Pakistan in the ACC Women’s U-19 Asia Cup qualifiers. The nominees in this category were Ajay Bik of athletics, Anjali Maharjan of karate, Swastika Tiruwa of boxing and Sameer Tamang of football.

Khokho men’s and women’s teams have been declared ‘Team of the Year’

Khokho men’s and women’s teams have been declared ‘Team of the Year’. In the first Khokho World Cup held in New Delhi, India, both the men's and women's teams won silver medals and became runners-up. The women's team defeated Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Germany in the group stage. Then, they defeated Iran in the quarterfinals and Uganda in the semifinals. The men's team defeated Peru, Brazil and Bhutan in the group stage. Similarly, they defeated Bangladesh in the quarterfinals and Iran in the semifinals. Both teams were defeated by India in the final.

On this occasion, Bangladeshi sports journalist Rana Hossain was presented with the Asian Sports Journalist Award. Hossain said that he received the best award in his sports journalism career and said that the two countries should cooperate in sports journalism to move forward.

At the award ceremony, the best male, female, coach, people's choice and young player of the year received Pulsar NS motorcycles. The winners in other categories received one lakh rupees each. Sports Minister Bablu Gupta, Pokhara Metropolitan Mayor Dhanraj Acharya, Deputy Mayor Manju Devi Gurung, Kaski Chief District Officer Rudra Devi Sharma, Nepal Olympic Committee Chairman Jeevan Ram Shrestha, Sports Award sponsor Golchha Group Director Abhimanyu Golchha, Yeti Airlines Business Director Yubaraj Bista and others presented the awards to the winners.

Sports Journalists Forum Chairman Niranjan Adhikari said that Pokhara has proven that the award ceremony can be held grandly outside Kathmandu. Pokhara Metropolitan had promoted the Sports Award.