JOIN USState's best get their reward
Speaking at the function where 30 athletes were presented with the Ekalavya awards by Governor H R Bharadwaj at the Raj Bhavan, Shekar announced four additional categories of awards to honour present and past sportspersons who have done Karnataka proud.
“The sports ministry has decided to present one athlete every year from Karnataka with the Chief Minister’s award,” said Shekar. The award will be on the lines of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna given by the Central Government. “The Government will also honour one sportsperson from four zones of the State while a lifetime achievement will be bestowed upon two coaches. One athlete from each district will also honoured for his/her sporting accomplishment,” added the minister.
Earlier, regretting the delay in honouring the athletes, Secretary of the Department of Youth Services and Sports, IM Vittala Murthy, said henceforth every step would be taken to honour athletes every year. The awards presented this year are for 2007 and 2008.
“Due to various reasons the awards were delayed repeatedly,” said Murthy. “However DYSS and the Government of
Karnataka hope not to repeat the mistake. Next year, the Ekalavya awardees will be announced in April with the award ceremony taking place on August 29 (the National Sports Day),” added Murthy. Governor Bharadwaj also had some words of advice for the sportspersons and said receiving the Ekalavya should spark them to achieve more.
List of awardees: 2007: Manjula L (athletics), Nithya Sosal (badminton), R Umadevi (billiards), M Satvik (chess), Aliyas Das Gupta (equestrian), Xavier Vijay Kumar (football), N Laxmi (fencing), GM Hariprasad (hockey), MN Varadarajan (kho-kho), Thygaraj (Kabbadi), Nayana Shriyan (power lifting), V Kavitha (rifle shooting), Kshiprab Mahajan (swimming), Sharat Gaikwad (physically challenged), LM Kari Basappa (bodybuilding).
2008: M R Poovamma (athletics), Srinivas G Nayak (basketball), Ashwini Ponnappa (badminton), Girish Kaushik (chess), Cavery R Banakar (cycling), Nanjundegowda (fencing), AL Vikram Kanth (hockey), Rohini B Patil (judo), CP Adarsh (kho-kho), Uday Chowta (kabbadi), BR Pramila (netball), NB Jyothi (powerlifting), Rohit Rajendra Havaldar (swimming), AK Akshata (volleyball), Farman Basha (physically challenged).