8th Belbari International Running Gold Cup to be Held

Morang – The 8th Belbari Arju Rice Major Late N. B. Rung-Mahang International Invitational Running Gold Cup will be held from Asoj 26 to Kartik 1 at Belbari Municipality–11, Laxmi Marg, Morang.

On Tuesday, the organizer LX City Football Club held a press conference at the playing field to provide information about the tournament.

The tournament will be held at the proposed Laxmi Playground, and a total of eight teams from Nepal and India will participate, according to Vikram Rai, president of LX City Football Club.

The participating teams include Nepal’s LX City Football Club (organizers), last year’s champions Jhapa–11 Football Club, Jhapa, runners-up Salhes Youth Club, Siraha, Church Boys United, Lalitpur, B Division League Champion Planning Boys United, Rara Football Club, Rajarani, Dhankuta, Bhojpur District Football Association, Bhojpur, and India’s Legend Football Academy, as informed by the organizing committee.

The main supporter is Belbari Municipality, the main sponsor is Arju Rice Mill, and Tuborg is another sponsor. The winning team will receive NPR 800,000, and the runner-up will receive NPR 400,000, said Shambhu Basnet, club secretary.

Additionally, the Best Player will receive NPR 25,000, Best Goalkeeper NPR 11,000, Best Coach NPR 11,000, Top Scorer NPR 11,000, Emerging Player NPR 11,000, and the Man of the Match in each game will receive NPR 7,000 in cash, according to the organizers.

The estimated cost of the tournament is NPR 6,378,000, while the target revenue collection is NPR 7,201,000, stated by Shivkumar Rai, coordinator of the financial committee.

The press conference, chaired by Vikram Rai, was attended by Dipendra Dhimal, central member of the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA), football activist and former national player Dilip Rai, Sanjiv Budhathoki, president of Morang District Football Association, and other club representatives.

To win the trophy, which contains 3 kg of silver and 1.5 tola of gold worth NPR 800,000, a football club must win the tournament three consecutive years.

Residents Popiraj Rai and Jyotiraj Rai have organized the Running Gold Cup in memory of their late father, Major N. B. Rai.