The five nominees for the NSJF Pulsar Sports Award-2081’s People’s Choice category were revealed in a function in Kathmandu on Sunday.

Wushu’s Bijay Sinjali, table tennis’ Evana Thapa, volleyball’s Himal Sunari, cricket’s Puja Mahato and football’s Rekha Poudel will be testing their fan support for the award.

Fans can vote for their favourite athlete through the Khalti by IME digital wallet; one vote costs Rs5. At the nomination announcement ceremony, NSJF signed an agreement with Khalti as the voting partner.

Fans’ votes will share a value of 50 percent while those from social media are valued at 25 percent. The votes from the chief coaches of the national sports associations registered under the Nepal Olympic Committee (NOC) and members of Nepal Sports Journalists Forum (NSJF) carry a value of 12.5 percent each.

Voting is open until the day prior to the award ceremony, which will be held in Pokhara on September 14.

About the nominees

Wushu’s Sinjali won a bronze in the third edition of the Taolu World Cup held in Yokohama, Japan, in October 2024. He qualified for the world event after performing well at the international invitation events in China. He also bagged a gold at the World Combat Games in Riyadh in 2023. Previously, Sinjali also bagged a gold and a silver in the 13th and 12th editions of the South Asian Games, respectively.

Table tennis’ Thapa, on the other hand, has been a dominant player in Nepal’s domestic arena while bagging good results at the international level as well.

Thapa clinched four medals in different categories during the South Asian Table Tennis and was a winner in the 27th Asian Table Tennis Championship in Kazakhstan last year. She had reached the semi-final stage in the South Asian qualifiers for the Paris Olympics.

Volleyball’s Sunari was a key member when his team Gandaki finished second in the 9th NVL League and 5th Tiger Cup Volleyball Championship. He was also the best server when Gandaki won the 3rd Tiger Cup Volleyball.

Cricket’s Mahato has already been recognised as one of the best women cricketers ever to grace the sport in Nepal. She led Nepal’s U19 team to their first-ever World Cup.

She also scored a century when Nepal defeated Kuwait by 165 runs in the World Cup’s Asian Qualifier. She was the highest run scorer of the qualifier, scoring 272 runs, and the second most wicket-taker with 10.

Mahato was the captain and the player of the match when Nepal’s U19 team defeated Pakistan, a Test nation, in the Asia Cup in December 2024. She now plays in the senior team and is a vice-captain.

Poudel, on the other hand, has been one of the most loved women footballers in the country. Poudel, in her debut at the AFC Women’s Champions League, scored the decider to help her UAE’s Abu Dhabi Country Club defeat Laos’ Young Elephants in August 2024.

She was also the only goalscorer when Abu Dhabi Country Club defeated Al Nassr and entered the next stage as the topper of their group.

Further, Poudel was the highest goal scorer for Nepal in the 2024 SAFF Championship with seven goals. She is only the second player to score a hat-trick in the SAFF Women’s Championship; she scored five against the Maldives last year.