Nepal Sports Journalist Forum (NSJF) on Friday unveiled the top three nominees each in the male player of the year, female player of the year, youth player of the year and coach of the year categories for annual Pulsar Sports Award.

Nepal national cricket team captain Rohit Paudel, cricketer Aasif Sheikh and athlete Deepak Adhakari have made it to the top three nominees for the male player of the year award.

Basketball player Anusha Malla and athletes Pushpa Bhandari and Rajpura Pachhai are the finalists for the female player of the year category.

Athletics coach Chandra Bahadur Gurung, cricket coach Jagat Tamata and boxing coach Deepak Maharjan have made the cut for the coach of the year category, while cricketer Dev Khanal, athlete Ram Maya Budha and boxer Sushma Tamang have been shortlisted for the youth player of the year award.

The winners will be announced during the award ceremony which will be held at Hotel Yak and Yeti in Kathmandu on Sunday, said NSJF General Secretary Prajwal Oli, who is also players selection committee coordinator.

The top three nominees were shortlisted from eight nominees announced earlier in each of four categories—male and female player of the year, youth player of the year and coach of the year. The people’s choice award has five nominations which include footballer Ananta Tamang, karateka Biplav Lal Shrestha, volleyball player Niruta Thagunna, table tennis player Sikka Suwal Shrestha and bodybuilder Rajani Shrestha.

The winner of the people’s choice category will be decided through eSewa voting, points allocated by sports journalists and chief coaches of 27 sports associations affiliated with Nepal Olympic Committee and Facebook likes. The winners of the other four categories will be decided by the selection committee of NSJF.

The voting for the people’s choice award is in the final stages, according to NSJF. The eSewa voting and Facebook voting—which is done via Facebook pages of NSJF Pulsar Sports Award and Pulsar Nepal, the official facebook page of award’s main sponsor Hansaraj Hulaschand and Company—will remain open until Saturday midnight.

The winners of male, female, youth, coach and people’s choice award will be rewarded with a Pulsar motorbike each.

Of the total eight sports award categories, the winners of para athlete honour, special award and life-time achievement award will be revealed during the award ceremony. Winners of these categories will bag a purse of Rs50,000 and insurance policy worth Rs700,000.

NSJF will also honour international sports journalists with the Asian Sports Journalist Award.