Kathmandu: The 22nd edition of the NSJF Pulsar Sports Award, which was postponed due to the Gen Z movement, has been rescheduled for January 7.

Organising a press conference in Tripureshwar on Sunday, the award organiser Nepal Sports Journalists Forum (NSJF) announced the new date of the event, originally scheduled for September 14 in Pokhara, Kaski, but deferred following the Gen Z movement on September 8 and 9.

According to NSJF general secretary Anjan Khadka, the award ceremony will be held at the Pokhara Convention Centre. He also informed that the NSJF Sports Summit will take place a day prior to the ceremony, featuring panel discussions and sessions on sports tourism and the sports economy.

NSJF president Niranjan Adhikari informed that Yeti Airlines has joined the Sports Award as a ‘powered by’ sponsor. The airline will provide services to sportspersons and guests participating in the event.

NSJF also announced that the digital voting process for the peoples’ choice award—one of the major categories of the Award—which had been halted earlier, was reopened on Sunday.

Adhikari said, “The voting process will resume from the number of votes previously received by the nominated players.” The five nominees in the category are wushu player Bijay Sinjali, cricketer Puja Mahato, volleyball player Himal Sunari, footballer Rekha Paudel, and table tennis player Ivana Thapa.

Nominees of peoples’ choice award. 

The Sports Award features 10 categories, including male player of the year, female player of the year, youth player of the year, coach of the year and peoples’ choice award. NSJF has already announced five nominees in each of these five categories, with the winners to be unveiled at the award ceremony.

The winner of the peoples’ choice award will be determined through a combination of digital voting via Khalti, likes on the official Facebook pages of the NSJF Pulsar Sports Award and Pulsar Nepal, points awarded by head coaches from sports associations affiliated with the Nepal Olympic Committee and NSJF members. Winners in the remaining categories will be selected by an NSJF selection committee.

Additionally, the event will honour individuals and teams with the para athlete honor, special award, lifetime achievement award, team of the year and Asian sports journalist award. These categories do not have nominees, and the winners will be announced directly during the ceremony.

Winners of the male, female, youth and coach of the year, as well as the people’s choice award, will each receive a Pulsar motorbike, while winners in the other categories will be awarded a cash prize of Rs 100,000 each.