KATHMANDU, June 24: Swimmer Gaurika Singh and Badminton player Prince Dahal have been awarded the Best Athlete Award at an award function organized by the Nepal Olympic Committee on Thursday (NOC) on the occasion of the International Olympic Day.
In the award function organized by NOC on Thursday, Gaurika was honored as the Best Female Athlete and Prince as the Best Male Athlete based on their performances and achievements throughout the year. Similarly, Sangina Vaidya of taekwondo was awarded the Best Female Instructor while Deepak Magar was honored with the Best Male Instructor.
Gaurika Singh becomes first Nepali swimmer to win three golds
Nepal Taekwondo Association was declared the Best Association. Furthermore, senior sports journalist at BBC, Niranjan Rajbanshi received the Best Multimedia Journalist award while Raju Ghising of Kantipur Daily was declared the Best Journalist in the print media. Likewise, Rajendra Chitrakar of Gorkhapatra was awarded the Best Journalist in the category of photojournalism while Sabina Karki of Kantipur Television won the award for Best Journalist in the category of audio-visual journalism.
Similarly, former member secretary of the National Sports Council Nepal (NSC) Late Sharad Chandra Shah, former President of NOC Late Rukma Shumsher Rana, advisor at NOC Lok Bhakta Rana, Honorary President of NOC Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan, Nepal's first international medalist and olympian Jit Bahadur KC, gold medalist in South Asian Games (SAG) Baikuntha Manandhar, former Minister for Youth and Sports Purushottam Thapa, Chairman for Sports for All Commission Bishnu Gopal Shrestha, senior sports journalist Shyam Chitrakar, the first Nepali women to receive a black belt, Sudha Sen Malla, and top scorer in women's national football team Sabitra Bhandari were bestowed with NOC Presidential Recognition Award.
Minister for Youth and Sports Maheshwar Jung Gahatraj, member secretary of NSC Tanka Lal Ghising, President of NOC Jeevan Ram Shrestha, Executive Director of NOC Chaturananda Rajvaidya, and Secretary-General of NOC Nilendra Raj Shrestha were among those who handed the awards to the award winners in the function.
