President Gives Away Sports and Adventure Awards
The President, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil gave away Sports and Adventure Awards at a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan today. The function was attended by Union Minister of Railways Shri Dinesh Trivedi, Shri Ajay Maken, Minister of State (I/C) for Youth Affairs & Sports and several eminent sports persons.
Sh. Gagan Narang was awarded Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award this year for his sterling performance in Shooting. The award carries a statuettes, citations and cash prize of Rs 7.5 lakh each.
Shri Shabbir Ali (Football), Shri Sushil Kohli (Swimming) and Shri Rajkumar (Wrestling) were conferred Dhyan Chand Awards for the year 2011 for their contribution to sports by their performance and efforts to promote the sports. The award carries a statuettes, citations and cash prize of Rs 5 lakh each.
The President also gave away Dronacharya Awards for the this year to Shri Inukurthi Venkateshwara Rao (Boxing), Shri Devender Kumar Rathore (Gymnastics), Shri Ramphal (Wrestling), Dr. Kuntal Roy (Athletics) and Shri Rajinder Singh (Hockey) in recognition of their meritorious achievements in the field of coaching. The award carries a statuettes, citations and enhanced cash prize of Rs 5 lakh each.
Shri Rahul Banerjee (Archery), Ms. Preeja Sreedharan (Athletics), Ms. Jwala Gutta (Badminton), Shri M. Suranjoy Singh (Boxing), Shri Sunil Chhetri (Football), Shri Rajpal Singh (Hockey), Shri Rakesh Kumar (Kabaddi), Ms. Tejeswini Bai V (Kabaddi -Women)), Ms. Tejaswini Ravindra Sawant (Shooting), Shri Veedhawal Vikram Khade(Swimming), Shri Sanjay Kumar (Volleyball), Shri Ravinder Singh (Wrestling), Naib Subedar Katulu Ravikumar (Weightlifting), Ms. Wangkhem Sandhyarani Devi (Wushu) and Shri Prasantha Karamakar (Swimming Paralympics) were conferred Arjuna Awards for the year 2011, in recognition of their outstanding achievements in the respective field of sports. The Award carries a statuettes, citations and enhanced cash prize of Rs 5 lakh each.
Shri Vikas Gowda (Athletics), Shri Zaheer Khan (Cricket), Shri Ashish Kumar (Gymnastics) and Shri Somdev Kishore Devvarman (Tennis) have been also awarded Arjuna Awards but they could not attend the presentation ceremony because of their sporting events abroad.
With a view to recognize, the contribution made to sports development by entities other than sportspersons and coaches, the Government had instituted in 2009, a new award “Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar”, which has four categories, namely, community sports development, promotion of sports academies of excellence, support to elite sportspersons and employment to sportspersons.
The Petroleum Sports Promotion Board was conferred “Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar” for the year 2011 under the category of Financial Support for Sports Excellence Establishment. Shri N. Ramachadran of Squash Academy, Chennai also received the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar” for Establishment Management of Sports Academics of Excellence.
The President also conferred Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Awards for the year 2010 to recognize the contribution and performance of the awardees in the field of adventure sports. Late Col. Balwant Singh Sandhu was given Life Time Achievement Award (Posthumously). Ms. Reena Kaushal Dharmshaktu for Land Adventure, Ms. Mamta Sodha for Land Adventure and Shri Dilip Donde for Water Adventure were also awarded. The award carries cash prize of Rs 5 lakh and Bronze Statuette along with a citation.
RM/RS
.
(Release ID :75167)