Karnataka Governor Rameshwar Thakur has urged the State government to give away the Ekalavya awards every year instead of awarding it in a bunch as is the case now.

The Governor’s comments came at the Ekalavya Awards function at the Guru Nanak Bhavan here on Saturday, where awards from 2002 to 2006 were presented.

“In future, the awards must be given away regularly,” he said.
The Governor also called for coaches to impart good training as they are the ones who have the capability to produce champions of the future.

Each of the 82 awardees were given a statuette and a cheque worth Rs 50,000.
While many of the awardees were present at the function, some prominent ones gave it a miss. Conspicuous by his absence was IBSF world billiards champion Pankaj Advani, who did not attend thanks to the shoddy treatment meted out to him by the State government so far. He was in the awards list for the year 2004. He has already been awarded the Khel Ratna and the Arjuna Award.

Also giving the event a miss were badminton players Anup Sridhar (2004) and Arvind Bhat (2003), who are playing in the Danish and German League respectively. Former Indian women’s team goalkeeper Helen Mary (2003) was represented by her husband and hockey player Laxman Rao.

Indian men’s goalkeeper Bharat Kumar Chetri (2002) and VS Vinay (2005) are away playing in the German League and so is star Indian midfielder Ignace Tirkey (2006). Cricketers Dodda Ganesh, Sunil Joshi and Sujith Somasundar were present.

Veteran athletics coach N Lingappa was given the lifetime achievement award. He received a cheque of Rs one lakh.

Among those who were present were Karnataka Olympic Association President K Govindaraj, secretary to the government of the youth affairs department AS Srikanth, Department of Youth Services and Sports commissioner Amar Kumar Pandey and Sports Minister Alkod Hanumanthappa.