Sportspersons receive national honours virtually
   Date :30-Aug-2020

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 Indian archer Atanu Das received the Arjuna Award from President Ram Nath Kovind during National Sports and Adventure Awards 2020 virtual ceremony, at Nizam Palace in Kolkata on Saturday. (ANI)
 
 
 
NEW DELHI,
 
INDIA’S sporting heroes were bestowed the annual national awards in an unparalleled online ceremony amid the COVID-19 pandemic during which athletes logged in from multiple cities to be honoured by President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday. This year a whopping 74 winners were picked for the national honours, including an unprecedented five Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratnas and 27 Arjuna awardees.
 
Of these, 60 attended the virtual ceremony conducted across 11 Sports Authority of India (SAI) centres in various cities. Cricketers Rohit Sharma (Khel Ratna) and Ishant Sharma (Arjuna) missed out due to their IPL commitments in the UAE, while star wrestler Vinesh Phogat (Khel Ratna) and badminton player Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (Arjuna) had to pull out of the ceremony after testing positive for the dreaded virus.
 
The other three Khel Ratna winners — TT player Manika Batra, Paralympic gold-medallist Mariyappan Thangavelu and women’s hockey captain Rani Rampal — attended the ceremony. While Batra logged in from Pune, Thangavelu and Rampal joined from Bengaluru. President Kovind applauded as names of the attending awardees were called out and their achievements were cited as is the convention. Missing, however, was the grandeur of the Rashtrapati Bhawan’s Durbar Hall. “This is the first awards ceremony in COVID times during which the President has participated,” Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju said at the beginning of the ceremony. The athletes can look forward to enhanced cash awards this year. The prize money for the Khel Ratna was increased to Rs 25 lakh from the previous amount of Rs 7.5 lakh on Saturday morning. Arjuna awardees, 22 of who attended the ceremony, were given Rs 15 lakh, which is Rs 10 lakh more than the previous sum.
 
The Dronacharya (Lifetime) awardees, who were earlier given Rs 5 lakh, were awarded Rs 15 lakh, while the regular Dronacharya came with Rs 10 lakh instead of Rs 5 lakh per awardee. Dhyan Chand Awardees were given Rs 10 lakh instead of Rs 5 lakh. The strict COVID-19 protocol meant that for the first time in 44 years’ history of the awards, the winners, guests and dignitaries did not gather at the Durbar Hall to be recognised for their excellence.
 
President Kovind congratulated all the winners and exuded confidence that India can achieve its goal of finishing among top-10 countries in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. “My heartiest congratulations to all the award winners! All of you, through your performance, have provided unforgettable moments of collective success to all Indians,” Kovind said in his address during the ceremony, which lasted little more than hour. “I am confident that with the collective efforts made on the strength of everyone’s participation, India will emerge as a sporting superpower. Our goal is to be in the top-10 podium finisher countries in the 2028 Olympic Games. We will definitely achieve this goal.” Kovind said India needs to develop a sporting culture and everyone should work towards achieving that. He said the entire sporting world has been affected by the pandemic, but hoped athletes will come out stronger from this experience.
 
“COVID-19 also has a huge impact on the sports world. Olympic Games have been postponed...in our country too, all sports activities have been affected. Players and coaches may be less motivated by practice and competition stops,” he said. “I believe that the people of sports will come out of this test with more mental strength and will create new history of achievements.” The top Arjuna awardees this year included star sprinter Dutee Chand, woman cricketer Deepti Sharma, golfer Aditi Ashok and men’s hockey team striker Akashdeep Singh. The Dronacharya award in the life-time category was bestowed on eight coaches, the prominent among them being archery coach Dharmendra Tiwary, Naresh Kumar (tennis), Shiv Singh (boxing) and Romesh Pathania (hockey). In regular category, there were five recipients of the Dronacharya, including hockey coach Jude Felix and shooting coach Jaspal Rana among others. In a tragic turn of events of Friday, a Dronacharya (Lifetime) winner, athletics coach Purushottam Rai, died in Bengaluru after suffering a heart attack.
 
The Dhyan Chand award this year was given to 15 individuals, including Sukhvinder Singh Sandhu (football), Trupti Murgunde (badminton) and Nandan Bal (tennis) among others. Golfer Aditi Ashok and former footballer Sukhwinder Singh Sandhu did not attend the award function as they are out of the country. All health and safety protocols, keeping with the guidelines of the Health Ministry, were followed at the venues where dignitaries and awardees were present. In fact, awardees were seen clad in PPE kits as they made their way to the ceremony venues. As per the direction of the Sports Ministry, every award winner had to undergo a COVID-19 test before reporting to the ceremony venue.
 
 

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Govt making numerous efforts to popularise sports: Modi
 
NEW DELHI,
 
Aug 29 (PTI)
 
LAUDING sportspersons who have represented India and made it proud, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said his Government is making numerous efforts to popularise sports and support sporting talent in the country. In a series of tweets to mark National Sports Day, he also urged everyone to make sports and fitness exercises a part of their daily routine. “National Sports Day is a day to celebrate the remarkable achievements of all those exemplary sportspersons who have represented India in various sports and made our nation proud.
 
Their tenacity and determination are outstanding,” he said. The Prime Minister also paid tribute to Major Dhyan Chand, the legendary hockey player whose birth anniversary is celebrated as National Sports Day, and said his magic with the hockey stick can never be forgotten. “Government of India is making numerous efforts to popularise sports and support sporting talent in India. At the same time, I urge everyone to make sports and fitness exercises a part of their daily routine. There are many benefits of doing so. May everyone be happy and healthy,” he added. This is also a day to laud the outstanding support given by the families, coaches and support staff towards the success of our talented athletes, Modi said. 
 
Modi congratulates sports award winners, says much to learn from them
 
NEW DELHI,
 
Aug 29 (PTI)
 
PRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi on Saturday congratulated the winners of the National Sports and Adventure Awards and said there is much to learn from these athletes whose successes inspire many budding sportspersons. “Congratulations to all the talented sportspersons who have been conferred the National Sports and Adventure Awards 2020!
 
There is much to learn from these athletes. Their successes inspire many budding sportspersons. Best wishes to the award winners for their future endeavours,” he said in a tweet. Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu also congratulated the winners. “I convey my heartiest congratulations to all the winners of National Sports and Adventure Awards, 2020. The Nation is proud of your achievements. My best wishes for all your future endeavours,” the Vice President secretariat tweeted quoting him.