Cricket has dominated the nominations in the main four categories of the Nepal Sports Journalists Forum’s (NSJF) Pulsar Sports Award 2066.
National captain Paras Khadka has been nominated for the Best Player of the Year (Male); Nary Thapa for the Best Player of the Year (Female); spinners Rahul Kumar BK and Nischal Pandey for the Youth Player of the Year and coach Roy Dias for the Coach of the Year Award.
Cricket has five nominations in those four categories along with Karate.
Five nominees in each category were announced by the NSJF Player Selection Committee headed by Mahesh Acharya of The Himalayan Times and members are Binod Pandey of Nagarik, Prajeet Shakya of Gorkhapatra, Himesh Bajracharya of Kantipur and Ujjwal Acharya of Republica.
Sharad Vesawkar is one of the eight nominees for the Popular Player of the Year that is selected according to the SMS votes by people. The biggest sports award in the country also includes Lifetime Achievement Award, Special Award and Para-Athlete of the Year award.
Paras led Nepali cricket team to the title of the ICC World Cricket League Division 5 in Kathmandu during which he scored 250 runs and took a wicket. Later in the year, he also led the team to the finals of the ACC Trophy.
Nary was declared best bowler of the ACC Women’s Championship for taking 14 wickets where Nepal was placed third. Her 5/5 against Bhutan is the best bowling performance by any Nepali woman cricketer.
Nischal made headlines during the ACC U-16 Elite Cup taking 16 wickets in scoring 161 runs. He also became the first cricketer to score half-century and claim five wickets in a match during the event in which he won the Best Bowler and Man of the Series Award.
Rahul was man of the final for his seven wickets against USA in the WCL Div 5. He was the joint-leading wicket-taker with 12 wickets. He was again joint leading wicket taker in the ACC Trophy with eight wickets.
Dias has been nominated for his coaching to the senior team that won the WCL Div 5. He was also coach of the teams that reached the finals of the ACC Trophy and the ACC U-16 Elite Cup.