The National Sports Council, the governing body of sports in the country, honoured best athletes, staff, coaches, journalists and other stakeholders at a function organised on Friday to mark their 62nd anniversary.

Teju Lal Chaudhary, minister for youth and sports as well as the chairman of the National Sports Council (NSC), alongside NSC vice-chairman Dhruba Acharya and member-secretary Tanka Lal Ghising, handed over the awards across 18 categories at the NSC covered hall.

The national men’s and women’s kho kho teams were feted with the Outstanding Award; they both received trophies and a cash prize of Rs100,000 each.

NSC also felicitated two junior athletes, one para-athlete, 10 officials, one national sports association, one sponsor, two journalists and one local unit as the best in their respective fields.

In the junior category, boxer Arpil Rana (male) and cricketer Puja Mahato (female) were awarded Rs50,000 each. Rana had won bronze medals at the Asian U-22 Youth Boxing Championship in Thailand and the Asian U-19 Boxing Championship in Sri Lanka. Mahato, on the other hand, was recognised for being a key player of the U19 squad. She had scored 272 runs and bagged 10 wickets in the Women’s T20 World Cup Asia Qualifiers, where she was also named Player of the Series.

Palesha Goverdhan was awarded with Rs50,000 for winning Nepal’s first-ever Olympics/Paralympics medal. She won a bronze medal at Paris 2024. She also recently won another bronze at the 10th Asian Para Taekwondo Championships in Malaysia.

The Cricket Association of Nepal was awarded as the ‘Best National Sports Association’ with a cash prize of Rs100,000. Nepalaya International Pvt Ltd was named the ‘Best Sponsor’, while Bagmati Rural Municipality of Makwanpur received the ‘Best Local Unit’ award.

In the journalism category, Anjan Khadka, news coordinator of Kheladi.com (male) and Laxmi Shakya of Merokhel.com (female) received Rs20,000 each.

Among NSC staff, Phanindra Prasad Poudel, head at the secretariat of member-secretary, in the administration category, and Bhim Lal BK, taekwondo coach at Dang District Sports Development Committee, in the training category, received the ‘Outstanding Council Service Award’. They both bagged Rs25,000 each.

Similarly, Prabha Karmacharya (administration) from the Association Coordination Section, and Lalitpur’s taekwondo coach Tulasinanda Bajracharya (training) were handed over the ‘Best Council Service Award’ and they received Rs15,000 each.

Lalitpur District Sports Development Committee’s Administrative Officer Babukaji Shrestha and athletics coach Usha Karna Chaudhary of the Department of Training and Coaching were feted with the ‘Council Service’ Award in the administrative and training categories, respectively. They received Rs10,000 each.

‘Contract Service’ awards in the training category were given to karate coaches Sangha Ratna Maharjan and Kushal Shrestha from Kathmandu District Sports Development Committee. In the administrative category, the awards were received by Dipika KC, an assistant in the National Team Preparation Division, and Durga Thapa, office helper at the Administration Department. They all received Rs10,000 each.

The ceremony was expected to be attended by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, but he did not arrive, citing health reasons. Meanwhile, Minister Chaudhary, NSC’s vice-chair Acharya and member-secretary Ghising, stressed the need to continue investing more in sports and taking Nepal’s name to greater heights at the international level.