Football and cricket dominated nominations in the four major categories of the annual NSJF Pulsar Sports Award 2078 set to take place on March 7 with five nominees each from the two popular games.

Nepali international footballer Anjan Bista and Kiran Kumar Limbu were named nominees in male player of the year category during a nominee announcement ceremony of four categories in Kathmandu on Tuesday. Manish Dangi and footballer Preeti Rai are the nominees in the youth player of the year category. Former national men’s football team coach Abdullah Almutairi was nominated for coach of the year award.

National cricket team opener Kushal Bhurtel and Dipendra Singh Airee are also in the the list of male player of the year category, while the national women’s team captain Rubina Chhetry and Sita Rana Magar are nominated in the female player of the year category. Former national cricket coach Dav Whatmore is a nominee for coach of the year award.

According to Nepal Sports Journalists Forum, the umbrella organisation of sports journalists in the country and organiser of the event, the nominations were made on the basis of the players’ performance and the outcomes of respective games at the national and international levels throughout calendar year 2078 BS.

Apart from two players each from football and cricket in the nomination of male players, badminton star Prince Dahal was also included in the category. National women volleyball captain Aruna Shahi, long distance runner Pushpa Bhandari and boxer Punam Rawal are the nominees for female player of the year award that includes cricketers Chhetry and Rana Magar.

Boxer Chhiring Wangdi Sherpa, badminton’s Rashila Maharjan and volleyball’s emerging star Usha Bhandari are the nominees for youth player of the year award, which also includes footballers Rai and Dangi.

Para-taekwondo coach Kabiraj Negi Lama, boxer Deepak Maharjan and volleyball coach Jagdish Bhatta are the nominees for coach of the year award, besides football’s Kuwaiti coach Almutairi and cricket’s Australian coach Whatmore.

A five-member player selection committee, coordinated by NSJF secretary Anjan Khadka, picked the nominees. One winner in each category will be selected a few hours before the award ceremony.

“The Nepali sports sector was badly hit by Covid-19 for more than half of the year (2078 BS),” Khadka said, clarifying the reason behind the dominance of players from football and cricket. “There were very few games both at the domestic and international levels and we had no choice than to pick the players who participated at the standard national and international sports meets.”

The Sports Award will honour sportspersons in nine categories and NSJF has already announced nominees for the peoples’ choice award to be selected through points allocated by sports journalists, chief coaches of 36 sports associations—the games included in the ninth national games—Facebook likes and e-Sewa voting.

Footballer Bista, cricketer Aasif Sheikh, volleyball player Usha Bhandari, swimmer Duana Lama and tennis player Abhilasha Bista were nominated for the peoples’ choice award.

Special award, lifetime achievement award, para-athlete honour and Asian sports journalist honour are other categories of the award. There won’t be nominations in the award and the winner will be announced during the award ceremony.

The winners of player of the year male, female, youth, coach and peoples’ choice award will be honoured with a Pulsar two-wheeler while the winners of other categories will be given a cash reward of Rs50,000 each. The winner of the Asian Sports Journalists Honour will be selected by AIPS-Asia, the sports journalists federation of Asia.