Sprinter Sunar, who rose to fame after breaking a 15-year old national record in the 100m race earlier this year, is touted as the new hope of Nepali athletics.
Sprinter Sunar, who rose to fame after breaking a 15-year old national record in the 100m race earlier this year, is touted as the new hope of Nepali athletics.
Many names had come and gone in the Nepali sprint field after Ram Kumar Chaudhary set a new record of 10.71 seconds in the 1999 eighth South Asian Games held in Kathmandu. But the record stood long until Sunar stepped in. Sunar timed 10.4 seconds in the National Athletics Tournament held in January to break the record and signal his arrival as a new sprint star.
Sunar was dominant in the Nepali athletics for the last 12 months and his breathtaking performance has helped him sneak into the Pulsar Popular Player of the Year (PoY) category in the Pulsar Sports Award, the most prestigious award of Nepali sports given by Nepal Sports Journalist Forum.
Sunar will be vying for the award — decided through SMS voting and facebook likes — with national cricket team skipper Paras Khadka, footballer Bimal Gharti Magar, spiker Saraswoti Chaudhary and swimmer Sofia Shah. The player receiving the highest sms votes and facebook likes will win the PoY award in the award gala to be held at the Academy Hall on June 1.
The last 12-month performance from Sunar has also made the coaches hopeful. “Nepali athletes are comparatively weaker in the short distance running but Sunar’s performance has opened the possibility of winning a medal in this category,” says coach Chandra Gurung. Chief athletics coach Sushil Narshing Rana believes Sunar has the potential to lift the level of athletics in the country.
“Him (Sunar) shattering the 15-year old record has given a ray of hope for us. He has the potential to take Nepali athletics to a greater heights,” says Rana. “It is very difficult to set a new record in the 100m race. He not only broke the record but he has done with an impressive timing.”
Sunar, who hails from Jajarkot, had also won gold in the 200m race in the National Championships. He had first participated in his first school-level tournament from Nepalgunj. Two years ago he joined Nepal Police Club before he finally got employed by the Nepal Army. A third-year bachelor-level student at Tri-Chandra Campus, Sunar aims at winning an international medal for Nepal in the 100m. “The short distance race does not have an international medal. I want to end the medal drought,” he said.
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