Kanchi Maya Koju, a long distance runner, had a memorable year winning multiple titles and the 36-year-old veteran is one of the five nominees selected for the Pulsar Sports Award’s Female Player of the Year (PoY).

Along with the Nepal Armed Police Force (APF) runner Koju, shuttler Nangsal Devi Tamang, archer Gyanu Awale, footballer Sabitra Bhandari and another athlete Saraswati Bhattarai of Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) are other contenders for the award.

Also nominated for the People’s Choice Award, Koju claimed five half marathon titles and setting national records in both the half and full marathon events. She won the Kathmandu Marathon with a new national record of 2:55:57 and Pinkathon half marathon in 1:18:25 hours.

Apart from claiming titles of Dhangadhi, Nepagunj, Darjeeling and Kantipur Half Marathons, she also stole the show during the seventh National Games winning the 5,000m and 10,000m along with 4x400m relay silver. Although she finished 11th in the New Taipei City Wan Jin Shi Marathon, she was the winner in the event of her age category.

Army archer Awale was part of the Nepali team that took team event silver in the International Solidarity Archery Championship in Dhaka. She was the highest scorer with 564 points.

She also set a new national record in the seventh National Games winning gold medal in the 70m recurve with 303 points.

Tamang had combined with her brother Ratnajit to give Nepal their first ever international gold medal as the Tamang siblings clinched the Pakistan International Series mixed doubles title. She had a haul of domestic gold winning a total of seven titles including singles, doubles and mixed events. Her most successful outing was the seventh National Games where she won the singles, doubles and team event titles.

Bhandari netted 13 international goals in a single year—12 of them during the Saff Women’s Championship in India. After scoring six goals against Bhutan in Saff Championship, Bhandari became the only Nepali footballer to score a double hat-trick in a single match. She was named the best player of the CoAS National Football Tournament where she struck 13 goals.

Her performance helped APF Club win the CoAS Cup. She had also struck 16 goals during the National Women’s League football.

A new face in the women’s athletics, Bhattarai was the most successful player among a small Nepali contingent of the Rio Olympics after she broke a 26-year old record in the 1,500m race. She had completed the distance in 4:33.94 minutes to set a new benchmark. Saraswati also struck triple gold in the seventh National Games winning the 1500m, 800m and 4x400m relay titles.