The Nepali Army felicitated its players, who participated and won 3 Gold, 1 Silver and 6 Bronze medals in the Sough Asian Games (SAG), amidst a ceremony at the army headquarters on Monday.
Acting Chief of Army Staff Rukmangad Katawal felicitates the participants of the recently-concluded Sough Asian Games (SAG) during a ceremony organised at the army headquarters in Kathmandu, Monday, Sep 04 06. Nine sportsmen of the Nepali Army?s Tribhuvan Club, including athlete Rajendra Bhandari who won two Gold medals in the SAG, and a sportsman, who represented in Sydney Olympics, were felicitated at the programme. nepalnews.com
Acting Chief of the Army Staff (CoAS) Rukmangad Katawal felicitated nine sportsmen participating in the SAG and one participant of Sydney Olympic and announced their promotion by one rank.
SAG hero Rajendra Bhandari, who won two Gold medals in 5000 m and 3000 steeplechase event, was the highlight of the day. He was promoted to Warrant Officer 1 (WO1) “Subedar” from Warrant Officer 2 (WO2) “Jamdar”. Other players promoted to WO2 were Kisim Lal Tharu (Swimming) and Bishnu Rijal (Boxing). Bhandari was promoted to WO2 from Sergeant after the success in 9th SAF Games and in all-star championship where he won the Gold.
Anil Gurung (Boxing), Om Bahadur Kumal (Swimming), Raju Tamang (Football), Gyan Bahadur Bohara (Weightlifting), Kamal Prashad Adhikari, Arjun Kumar Basnet were also promoted one rank up.
Addressing the felicitation programme, General Katuwal revealed that all medal winning players would be sent to UN’s Peacekeeping missions, an opportunity largely cherished by army men because of good earning prospects.
“I am happy and proud with our players that they have held the institution’s name high in the foreign soil,” Katuwal said. “It’s praiseworthy to see 10 medal winning players from 27 that were in SAG contingent,” added he. Army Sports Chief Lt. Colonel Binod Bista and other senior army officials were present in the ceremony.
Meanwhile, the Nepal Athletics Association (NAA) has felicitated athlete Rajendra Bhandari with a cash reward of Rs50,000 and other two Silver winning players, Kanchi Maya Koju and Arjum Kumar Basnet, with Rs12500 each. NAA vice-president Rajiv Bikram Shah handed over the cash to the players today.