By the look of nominations football appears favourite to walk away with the Coach of the Year honour at the Pulsar Sports Award on Sept 11.

National football team coach Gyotoku Koji and Three Star Club coach Meghraj KC are in the fray for the award along with cricket’s Jagat Tamatta, Pushpa Raj Ojha of athletics and Kiran Thapa of badminton. Koji led Nepal to the AFC Solidarity Cup title that opened door for Nepal to compete against some of the best teams from Asia in the Asian Cup Qualifiers. Of the six international matches Nepal played over the past one year, the team registered three wins and two draws.

KC guided Three Star to AFC Cup preliminary qualifiers victory where they swept past Mongolia and Cambodia. KC steered the National League champions to the AFC Cup playoff but saw his team deprived of the participation due to an utter negligence from the All Nepal Football Association. He also handed Three Star the 64th Bordoloi Trophy in Guwahati, India. In the final Three Star had beaten Indian club giants East Bengal 2-1 in extra time.

Badminton coach Thapa handed Nepal their first ever international medal after Ratnajit Tamang and his sister Nangsal claimed the mixed doubles gold medal at the Pakistan International Series. In the same tournament, Thapa also oversaw Nangsal to women’s singles bronze medal. He was one of the three coaches during the Nepal International Series.

Athletics coach Ojha was lead a two-member Nepali athletics team to the 2016 Rio Olympics. Under Ojha, Saraswati Bhattarai broke 26-year old national record in the women’s 1,500m race. Ojha is credited for making Tribhuvan Army Club the most successful team in the seventh National Games in Eastern Region as the department outfits claimed 22 gold, 16 silver and eight bronze medals alone in athletics.

National cricket team head coach Tamatta oversaw Nepal’s four wins out of the six matches Nepal played in the ICC World Cricket League Championship (WCLC). Tamatta has helped Nepal fight back in the contention for the 2018 World Cup Qualifiers as the top four teams in the eight-team WCLC make it to the global event. His journey began with double header win over Namibia on home soil. Tamatta also helped Nepal beat Netherlands at their own backyards making his side the only team to overcome the Dutch in WCLC. The other victory for Tamatta came in the match against Kenya in Kathmandu.

Apart from the Coach of the Year the NSJF also honours Male, Female, and Youth of the Year, Lifetime Achievement, Para-athlete, Special and People’s Choice award on September 11.