Commonwealth Games star Sharath Kamal was presented the Khel Ratna award by the President Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhawan on Wednesday evening.
In an impressively crisp ceremony, the Dronacharya, Arjuna, Dhyan Chand, Tenzing Norgay, Khel Protsahan Puraskar and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad awards were presented at the Durbar Hall in about 45 minutes.
The awards, generally presented on hockey wizard Dhyan Chand’s birthday of August 29, had to be delayed owing to the Commonwealth Games, this year. However, the timing was so good that everyone was able to attend in person, except for hockey player Deep Grace Ekka.
The President walked down the steps to present the Dhyan Chand award to Nir Bahadur Gurung, the para athlete, who was on a wheelchair.
The Khel Ratna award carries Rs.25 cash prize. The Dronacharya and Arjuna awards fetch Rs.15 lakh, while the Dhyan Chand award, Rs.10 lakh.
The awardees:
Khel Ratna: Sharath Kamal (table tennis).
Dronacharya: Dinesh Jawahar Lad (cricket), Bimal Ghosh (football), Raj Singh (wrestling), Jiwanjot Singh Teja (archery), Mohammad Ali Qamar (boxing), Suma Shirur (para shooting), Pradeep Maan (wrestling).
Arjuna: Seema Punia, Eldhose Paul, Avinash Sable (athletics); Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy (badminton); Amit, NIkhat Zareen (boxing); Bhakti Kulkarni, R Praggnanandhaa (chess); Sushila Devi (judo), Sakshi Kumari (kabaddi), Nayan Saikia (lawn bowl), Sagar Ovhalkar (mallakhab), Elavenil Valarivan, Omprakash Mitharval (shooting); Sreeja Akula
(table tennis), Viks Thakur (weightlifting), Anshu, Sarita (wrestling); Parveen (wushu), Manasi Joshi, Tarun Dhillon (para badminton); Swapnil Patil (para swimming), Jerlin Anika (deaf badminton).
Dhyan Chand: Ashwini Akkunji (athletics), Dharamvir Singh (hockey), BC Suresh (kabaddi), Nir Bahadur Gurung (para athletics).
Tenzing Norgay Adventure award: Naina Dhakad, Shubham Dhananjay
Vanmali, Kunwar Bhawani Singh Samyal.
Rashtriya Khel Protsahar Puraskar: TransStadia Enterprises Private Limited; Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), Ladakh Ski & Snowboard Association.
Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad trophy: Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
BOXING
BFI secretary Hemanta selected as ASBC Youth Commission chairman
Boxing Federation of India (BFI) secretary Hemanta Kalita has been selected to serve as the Asian Boxing Confederation (ASBC) Youth Commission chairman. A letter, dated November 29, from ASBC president Pichai Chunhavajira confirmed the appointment.
-Y.B. Sarangi
TENNIS
PSPB tournament
Vishnu Vardhan and VM Ranjeet combined remarkably well to beat Asian Games gold medallists Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan 7-5, 3-6, [10-6] in an entertaining doubles final of the 41st PSPB inter-unit tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex on Wednesday.
VM Ranjeet and Vishnu Vardhan celebrate their win over Asian
Games gold medallists Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan in the PSPB
tennis tournament in Delhi on Wednesday.
| Photo Credit: Kamesh Srinivasan
After breaking Divij’s serve in the twelfth game in winning the first set, the ONGC pair lost momentum and dropped the second. In the match tie-break, it was Bopanna and Divij who led 4-2, before Vishnu and Ranjeet reeled off seven points in a spell of exhilarating action, to set up five match points at 9-4, and easing to a memorable triumph.
Ramkumar Ramanathan and Ankita Raina won the men’s and women’s singles titles for Indian Oil and ONGC respectively. Ramkumar beat fellow Davis Cupper Sumit Nagal 7-6(2), 7-6(2) as both asserted their serving prowess and court craft. Ankita beat Riya Bhatia for the loss of four games.
VN Prem Prakash added to the gold collection of ONGC, as he won the veterans singles, and the doubles title with SKP Bhandari.
The results (finals):
Men: Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Sumit Nagal 7-6(2), 7-6(2).
Doubles: Vishnu Vardhan & VM Ranjeet bt Rohan Bopanna & Divij Sharan 7-5, 3-6, [10-6].
Women: Ankita Raina bt Riya Bhatia 6-0, 6-4.
Veterans: VN Prem Prakash bt KS Rawat 6-0, 6-0.
Doubles: VN Prem Prakash & SKP Bhandari bt Santosh Kumar & KS Rawat 6-0, 6-3
-Kamesh Srinivasan
AITA women’s tournament
Shruti Gupta outplayed Ritu Ohlyan 6-1, 6-0 to set up a semifinal clash against second seed Riya Uboveja in the Rs.100,000 AITA women’s tennis tournament at the Joygaon Academy on Wednesday.
The other semifinal will be between top seed Sandeepti Singh Rao and Rachita Talwar.
The results (quarterfinals):
Sandeepti Singh Rao bt Bhumika Rohilla 6-0, 6-0; Rachita Talwar bt Ritu Rai 6-2, 6-4; Shruti Gupta bt Ritu Ohlyan 6-1, 6-0; Riya Uboveja bt Ananya Dhankhar 7-5, 6-0.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
ITF Juniors
Hitesh Chauhan knocked out the top seed Aman Dahiya 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the pre-quarterfinals of the Gadre Marine ITF grade-3 junior tennis tournament organised by the MSLTA at the Deccan Gymkhana Club on Wednesday.
The second seed Kriish Tyagi and third seed Daksh Prasad were also ousted by Shrikeshav Murugesan and Chun Tang respectively.
In the girls section, Maaya Rajeshwaran beat fifth seed Kamonwan Yodpetch of Thailand 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 to set up a quarterfinal against third seed Madhurima Sawant. Second seed Sonal Patil was beaten in straight sets by Saina Deshpande.
The results (pre-quarterfinals):
Boys: Hitesh Chauhan bt Aman Dahiya 6-4, 4-6, 6-4; Samarth Sahita bt Chandan Shivaraj 6-4, 7-5; Chun Tang (Tpe) bt Daksh Prasad 6-4, 6-4; Adhirit Awal bt Tarun Korwar 6-7(7), 7-5, 6-1; Chieh En Hou (Tpe) bt Dhananjay Athreya 5-7, 7-5, 6-3; Bushan Haobam bt Kandhavel Mahalingam 6-3, 7-6(2); Aleksandar Daskalovic (Srb) bt Shanker Heisnam 7-5, 3-6, 6-2; Shrikeshav Murugesan bt Kriish Tyagi 1-6, 6-0, 6-2.
Girls: Suhitha Maruri bt Niyati Kukreti 6-3, 6-3; Margot Phanthala (Fra) bt Sai Janvi 6-1, 6-0; Lidia Podgorichani (Tha) bt Leanne Abouhamad (Aus) 6-1, 6-3; Tejasvi Dabas bt Harshini Nagaraj 7-6(8), 6-4; Maaya Rajeshwaran bt Kamonwan Yodpetch (Tha) 5-7, 7-5, 6-4; Madhurima Sawant bt Nandini Dixit 6-4, 6-1; Aishwarya Jadhav bt Maria Masiianskaia 6-3, 3-6, 6-4; Saina Deshpande bt Sonal Patil 7-5, 6-3.
BASKETBALL
National championship
Railways was in fine form as it won its matches in both the men’s and women’s events in the second stage of the 72nd National basketball championship at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Hall on Wednesday.
The Railway men beat Delhi 91-62 with Palpreet Singh and Sahil doing the bulk of scoring. In the women’s event, Railways outplayed West Bengal 107-58.
The results:
Men: Railways 91 (Palpreet Singh 20, Sahil 18, Jai Venkitesh 12, Rakesh Singh 12, Santhosh Mani 11) bt Delhi 62 (Prince Tyagi 16, Himanshu 12).
Punjab 67 (Amjoth Singh 17, Amritpal Singh 13, Gurbaz Singh Sandhu 13) bt Kerala 35
Women: Kerala 88 (PS Jena 21, Stephy Nixon 13, R Sreekala 13, Kavitha Jose 10) bt Maharashtra 57 (Durga Dharmadhakari 22).
Delhi 81 (Raspreet Sidhu 26, Garima Goswami 12, Ishika Chowdhary 11) bt Uttar Pradesh 63 (Shagun Patel 14, Megha Singh 13).
Railways 107 (Poonam Chaturvedi 14, Madhu Kumari 13, Dharshini 11, Nima Bhutia 11, Shruthi Aravind 10) bt West Bengal 58.
Karnataka 70 (Varsha Nandini 26, Niharika Reddy 14) bt Tamil Nadu 56 (Shobhana 25, Sruti 14).
-Kamesh Srinivasan
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)