POKHARA, June 8: Yukesh Gurung and Sushmi Shrestha have been adjudged the best players of the TVS Apache Pokhara Sports Award in Pokhara on Friday. 

In the award ceremony held at the Nepal Sports Journalist Forum (NSJF) Gandaki Province, paraglider Gurung and full contact karate’s Shrestha were named the best players of men’s and women’s categories respectively. 

Gurung cast aside paraglider Rupak Nepali and squash’s Amrit Thapa to win the award. He was rewarded with a TVS Apache bike. Gurung was part of the Nepal paragliding team who won the bronze medal in the 18th Asian Games. He was able to win Nepal the medal after the team was behind by a lot of points. He also won the gold medal in the Eighth National Games.

In women’s category, Shrestha left behind shooting’s Shreya KC and soft tennis’ Preeti Baral to claim the award and was given a scooter by the Batas Organization. She had won the gold medal in the Second South Asian Regional Countries Kyokushin Karate Championship, bronze medal in the Eighth National Games, bronze in the 29th European Championship Kyokushin Karate in the Netherlands. 

Cricket’s Arjun Kumal won the best rising player award beating archery’s Anushka Sherchan and ITF taekwondo’s Sushmita Thapa Magar. Kumal played a major part in the Nepal team who won the ACC U-16 Elite Cup. 

Likewise, full contact karate’s Deepak Godar won the award for the best coach defeating handball’s Bhimsen Shakya and hockey’s Rajendra Pathak. Godar helped five karate players win gold medals, while his players have been playing brilliant in different championship in foreign lands. 

The forum declared the Kaski District Basketball Association as the best association as it has been playing an important role in the production of players, said forum President Ekraj Giri.

Also, Pokhara Television and Radio Barahi’s Binod Lamichhane won the 
award for the best sports journalist. 

Shooting’s Shriya KC was named the most popular player of the year who left behind eight other candidates to win the award. The talent selection committee coordinator Ram Krishna Gyawali informed that KC beat second-placed Baral by more than 1,000 votes.  

A total of nine candidates were selected for the best player competition in both the categories along with the rising player in the popular award. 

Gandaki Province’s lone international gold medalist Chitra Bahadur Gurung was presented with the lifetime achievement award. He is the only gold medal winner in the international stage as he won three important international medals for Nepal starting his professional career at the age of 27. 

He won silver medals in the Fourth Asian Boxing Championship held in 1989 in Beijing and in the 11th Asian Games in 1990. He won Nepal the gold medal in the Fourth SAF Games in Pakistan in 1989. That was the only gold medal won by a Nepali player in the tournament. 
 

 
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