Besides Pandey´s lifetime service award, Nepal also wins the award for Best Junior Cricket Initiative. According to the official website of ACC, Malaysia cricket got three awards for Best Cricket Promotion and Marketing Program, Photo of the Year and Volunteer of the Year. Likewise, Qatar was chosen for Best Overall Cricket Development Program while Bhutan was selected for Best Women´s Cricket Initiative. [break]
"It was difficult to select the Asian winners this year since there were so many to choose from. There was very close competition but we really do appreciate the entries and I would like to wish all associations the very best as they go forward into the global reckoning," said ACC Development Manager Bandula Warnapura.
All the regional winners will be nominated for the global awards that will take place on February 28 in Dubai. The winners of five continents will compete for the Pepsi ICC Development Programme Awards, which is in its ninth year. The regional association of the five continents selects the winners from more than 100 countries.
Earlier, the ACC had awarded Pokhara´s Sudarshan Ranjit for Best Photo and CAN for Best Junior Cricket Initiative in 2007. In 2003, CAN´s then president Jaya Kumar Nath Shah received the lifetime achievement award. CAN had received the Best Cricket Promotion and Marketing Program award the same year. Meanwhile, Nepalgunj Region No 5 received the Best Women´s Cricket Initiative award from ACC as well as the global award in 2006.
Pandey expressed happiness for winning the award and said, "Although I received the award as a sportsperson, it belongs to Nepal," and added, "I feel rewarded for working honestly all these years." He said that Nepal received the Best Junior Cricket Initiative award for the nationwide inter-school cricket tournament organized with support from the education ministry.
Pandey has served CAN for four decades. He served as the general secretary for 36 years and has been serving as the president since 2007. The ICC had conferred the centenary award on Pandey and five other Nepalis last year on the occasion of its 100th anniversary.
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