DRONACHARYA AWARD
Long-serving archery coach Purnima Mahato and women's hockey coach Narendra
Singh Saini were among five people who were on Thursday recommended for the
prestigious Dronacharya award this year.
Wrestling
coach Raj Singh and athletics coach K P Thomas have been recommended for the
Dronacharya Lifetime Achievement award.
The other
Dronacharya awardee this year is little-known boxing coach Mahavir Singh, who
has been with the women's national team for quite a few years.
The list will
now be forwarded to the Sports Minister Jitendra Singh for final approval. The
official announcement is expected to be made in mid-August.
Among those
who endorsed him was London Olympics bronze-medallist and five-time world
champion woman boxer M C Mary Kom.
Raj Singh, on
the other hand, is the Wrestling Federation of India Secretary General and has
been a coach for nearly four decades. The wrestlers who endorsed his nomination
include Olympic silver-medallist Sushil Kumar.
Mahato
started coaching in 1994 and among her wards is former world number one and
Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Deepika Kumari.
Saini, who is
employed with the Sports Authority of India, has been in coaching for 17 years
and four girls trained by him are in the senior national team while 10 are in
the junior national squad.
Thomas, who
is based in Kerala, has Olympian Anju Bobby George, sprinter Jincy Philips, and
800m double Asian Games gold-medallist Shiny Wilson among his long list of
wards.
The award, instituted in 1985, comprises a
bronze statuette of Dronacharya, a scroll of honour and a cash component of Rs
five lakh.
The selection
committee, headed by former hockey captain Ashok Kumar, has also recommended
athlete Marie D'Souza, wrestler Anil Maan and paralympian Giriraj Singh for the
Dhyanchand award for lifetime achievement.
Former
cricket captain Sunil Gavaskar and tennis legend Vijay Amritraj were also
nominated for the Dhyanchand Award. But they were left out as they had already
received the Arjuna award.
The rules
stipulate that sportspersons who have been conferred the Arjuna award are not
considered for the Dhyanchand award.
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