Saina Nehwal’s year of glory continued on Friday when it emerged that she would be conferred the country’s top sporting honour — the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award.
The shuttle queen has had a golden run in the last one year, where she made it to the semi- finals of the All England championship.
This was followed by three international titles in as many weeks, all of which were Super Series events. In fact, she has had an enviable record of not losing before the semifinals stage in each and every tournament she has participated in last year.
The awards committee, headed by sprint legend PT Usha, met in the Capital on Friday and also selected 15 sportspersons for the coveted Arjuna Awards and three for the Dhyan Chand Awards for Lifetime Contribution to Sport. The committee will now submit the names to the government, which will make a formal announcement in the next few days. Generally, the names submitted by the committee are approved but the sports ministry can make changes.
Mail Today has accessed the recommendations of the committee about the Arjuna Awards and found that among the chosen ones are hockey aces Sandeep Singh and Jasjeet Kaur Handa.
India’s women’s cricket captain Jhulan Goswami is the only cricketer to get the award, with none of the men making the list, even though the Test team is still No. 1 in the world.
It is also a watershed moment for football as Delhi boy Sunil Chhetri and Deepak Mondal have been selected for the honour. It is the first time in eight years that a footballer will get the award, and the first time two will get it simultaneously since the award’s inception.
Discus thrower Krishna Poonia and national 400m record holder Joseph Abraham will also be honoured, as will light heavyweight boxer Dinesh Kumar, rifle shooter Sanjeev Rajput, swimmer Rehan Poncha and wrestler Rajiv Tomar.
The second- youngest chess grandmaster in the world, Delhi boy Parimarjan Negi, is also on the list, as are volleyball player Kapil Dev, kabbadi player Dinesh Kumar and para- Olympian Jagseer Singh.
Meanwhile, Anita Chanu, a NIS Patiala diploma holder and a participant in world championships and two Asian Games is one of the three Dhyan Chand awardees. Kuldeep Singh, who represented India in wrestling at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and won medals at the Asian and Commonwealth levels and Satish Pillai, a former long jumper, who won the bronze medal at the 1974 Asian Games in Tehran have also been honoured.
President Pratibha Patil will give away the awards in Rashtrapati Bhawan on August 29.
Arjuna Awards Recommendations
Athletics: Krishna Poonia, Joseph Abraham; Boxing: Dinesh Kumar; Chess: Parimarjan Negi; Cricket: Jhulan Goswami; Football: Sunil Chettri, Deepak Mondal; Hockey: Jasjit Kaur Handa, Sandeep Singh; Kabaddi: Dinesh Kumar; Para- Olympics: Jagseer Singh; Shooting: Sanjeev Rajput; Swimming: Rehan Poncha; Volleyball: Kapil Dev; Wrestling: Rajeev Tomar
0 comments:
Post a Comment