Nepal Sports Journalists Forum (NSJF) has announced to host the annual Pulsar Sports Award 2077 on March 22 in Kathmandu.

The 18th edition of the Sports Award will honour sportspersons in eight different categories, but it will be different for the past editions, NSJF said at an announcement and sponsorship signing ceremony in Kathmandu on Sunday.

While the best male, female and coach of the year in the past editions were feted on the basis of their performance in the past calendar year, the sportsperson in these categories will be rewarded judging their performance of the decade. But the player of the year youth category has been stripped for the edition.

"There were very few sports events in the last Nepali calendar year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. So we will be reviewing the performance of the last 10 years instead of a year and they would be honoured as players and coaches of the decade," said Subedi.

Stating the reason behind scrapping the youth award, he added: "As we are changing the award into the award of the decade for this edition, a player's career as a youth goes for a short time. So it has been removed. However, it will continue in the upcoming years."

Apart from male, female and coach of the decade, NSJF will also provide special award, lifetime achievement award, peoples' choice award and para athlete honour to sportspersons. A sports journalist from Asia will be given Asian sports journalists award.

According to the NSJF, they will make five nominations for peoples' choice award while there won't be any nominations for para athlete, special, lifetime and Asian sports journalists award. The winner will be unveiled at the award ceremony. A selection committee has been formed under the coordination of NSJF Secretary Govinda Regmi to pick the nominees.

"We are yet to make a decision on the modality of male, female and coach awards. We will soon announce if there will be nominations like in the past or not," Subedi added.

The winners of the male, female, coach and people’s choice awards will be presented with a Pulsar two wheeler while the winners of the other categories, except for the journalist award, will get a purse of Rs50,000.

NSJF inks sponsorship agreement

NSJF also extended sponsorship agreement with Hansaraj Hulaschand and Company Pvt Ltd, the sole authorised producer and distributor of Pulsar motorbikes in the country, for the award.

The company will provide NSJF with support worth Rs3.2 million in cash and kind. It was the 14th edition in a row that the company has been sponsoring the event. Hansaraj Hulaschand executive director Abhimanyu Golchha and NSJF President Subedi signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the same function.

Stating that the Company has been supporting numerous other sports activities, Golchha said, they were always ready to support the sports sector. "The award has created a great platform for recognition of Nepali sportsperon and I thank the organisers for the event," he said.