JOIN USGowda in Padma honours list
Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli was among the eight sportspersons who were picked for Padma Shri, the country’s fourth highest civilian award, with the list also featuring ace discus thrower Vikas Gowda.
Besides Kohli and Gowda, the seven other sportspersons named for the award are Rio Olympics bronze medallist wrestler Sakshi Malik, Paralympians Mariyappan Thangavelu and Deepa Malik, gymnast Dipa Karmakar, Indian hockey captain P R Sreejesh, and blind cricket team captain Shekar Naik, who hails from Karnataka.
Kohli recently took over as the captain of the Indian cricket team in all the three formats of the game after Mahendra Singh Dhoni stepped down as skipper of the limited-overs side. The prolific batsman is among the most feared batsmen in world cricket right now.
Gowda is the reigning Commonwealth Games and Asian Championship winner and competed in his fourth Olympics at Rio. Though he couldn’t get past the qualifying rounds after a season in which he was troubled by injuries, Gowda is back in training, looking towards retaining his Asian gold at home later this year.
Sakshi Malik won the bronze in the women’s 58kg wrestling at Rio while Thangavelu and Deepa Malik bagged a gold and silver in the men’s high jump T-42 and women’s shot put F53 categories respectively at the Rio Paralympics.
Dipa Karmakar finished fourth in women’s vault event in Olympics gymnastics while Sreejesh was the captain of the Indian hockey side that won the silver in the Champions Trophy.
Sreejesh dedicated the Padma Shri award to his team-mates. “I would like to dedicate this award to my team who have been exceptionally good over the past few years. We have grown together from strength to strength and have enjoyed success as well as lifted each other from heart breaking defeats. My recognition could not have been possible if not for the team work,” said an elated Sreejesh.