Joshi was a member of the Nepali contingent that had participated in the Asian Games for the first time in 1951 that was held in Indian capital New Delhi. NNIPA, an organisation comprising of former and current national players from different sports disciplines, had established the award category in the memory of Joshi from the eighth edition of their annual awards on Friday.

Chairman of the Constituent Assembly Subas Nembang handed over the award that carried a purse of Rs 30,000 to Manandhar during NNIPA Player of the Year Award ceremony.

Manandhar holds the accolade of winning back to back gold medals from the first South Asian Games held in Kathmandu in 1984 to the third in Kolkata in 1987. Manandhar’s record timing of 2:14.03 in Kolkata still stands in the regional meet.

NNIPA also felicitated 19 other players—10 male and nine female—for their outstanding performance in the last one year. Footballer Anil Gurung, Amar Shrestha of handball, Dipendra Airee of hockey and Bibhuti Karki of tennis received the award for their fine performance.

Nabita Shrestha of table tennis, Gyani Chunara of taekwondo, Sunita Bohora of judo, Raju Rai of gymnastic, Nabal Rawal of kabaddi, weightlifter Kamal Bahadur Adhikari, Keshav Shrestha of chess, cyclist Ajay Pandit, archer Prem Prasad Pun, shuttler Ratnajit Tamang, boxer Saraswoti Rana, karateka Anu Adhikari, volleyball player Saraswoti Chaudhary, shooter Shreya KC, Dil Maya Karki of athletics were the recipient of the award. All the award winners bagged a purse of Rs 10,000 apiece.

NNIPA honours the best players of the year following a recommendation from their respective associations. Also, South Asian gold medallist Rabi Maharjan was honoured for helping Nepali players despite residing in a foreign country. Mahrajan had won gold medal in the eighth SA Games in karate.

National Sports Council security guard Ratna Maharjan, who has served at the sports’ governing body for the last 36 years was felicitated with a cash of Rs 10,000 during the ceremony.

Footballer Gurung and spiker Chaudhary were appointed ambassadors of Child Reach Nepal a non governmental organization.