Manang, Sept 11: A friendly football tournament has begun at high altitude areas of Manang district from Monday. The tournament was organised at Chame Rural Municipality-1 in the district. The locals organised the three-day tournament with an objective of creating public awareness through the medium of sports after the locals encountered many problems due to climate change impacts, said Proprietor of Namaste Tours and Chairperson of Tourism Entrepreneurs Association, Manang, Binod Gurung. Conserving snow leopard and yak at an altitude of 2,900 meters above the sea level is also the goal of the tournament as the habitat of the snow leopard is on the verge of extinction due to climate change impacts, Gurung said. Director of Biodiversity Conservation Society Nepal, Paras Bikram Singh, shared that the tournament is expected to help create public awareness in conservation of wildlife including snow leopard by reducing human-wildlife conflict. Ant Foundation, Wild Free and Biocos Nepal jointly organised the friendly tournament. Players including Hari Khadka, Anil Gurung, Niru Thapa, Asmita Ranpal, Sita Tamang and Upendra Man Singh, are playing football at Timang, Pisang and Mungji playgrounds, added Gurung. Miss Nepal World-2023 Srichchha Pradhan also played football in the tournament. Director of Ant Foundation and Choreographer, Prashant Tamrakar, mentioned that the tournament was organised to create awareness through friendly match for the conservation of rare animals from the mountainous region. Artists, players and local people are expected to play the friendly football match. A match was held between Kajinsara Yak and Himalayan Snow Leopard teams in the first day on Monday. Himalayan Snow Leopard team scored four goals while Kajinsara Yak managed three goals. — RSS