Aaron and Shoba bag Ekalavya Sports Awards 2009

Aaron and Shoba bag Ekalavya Sports Awards 2009

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, August 28:  Swimmer Aaron D’Souza and power lifter Shobha have bagged the Ekalavya Sports Awards for 2009.

The awards will be conferred on the winners by the state governor at a special awards ceremony, which will be held at Raj Bhavan on Aug 29 in honor of the birth anniversary of Dhyan Chand, the legendary hockey player. Each award winner will receive a brass memento, Rs. 50,000, a scroll, and a blazer.

Mangalorean Aaron D’Souza is currently performing extraordinarily well at the Senior National Aquatic Championship at Jaipur; and Shobha, who is employed at the Pandeshwar police station, has performed very well as a power lifter. She won national laurels at the 2009 Commonwealth Power Lifting Championship in Pune, held in Dec 2009.

Fifteen sportspersons have been selected for these awards. Goolihatti Shekar, the minister for youth services and sports, announced the names of the winners on Aug 27, Friday.

“Performances -- national and international -- over the last five years were the main parameters,” said Shekhar at a press conference. “Points have been awarded for participation as well as winning medals. After a thorough study, the panel narrowed upon 15 athletes, including Raghavendra Ratnakar Anvekar in the physically challenged category.”

Judo coach Triveni MN and fencing coach Irom Debham Singh have been chosen for the inaugural Life-time Achievement award which will carry a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh. “Sadly, until now there had been no consistency in choosing the Ekalavya awardees. From now on, however, the awards will be given every year without fail on August 29 -- coinciding with Major Dhyan Chand’s birthday, which is celebrated as the National Sports Day,” promised the sports minister. The awards committee panel included Olympian MP Ganesh, Arjuna awardee Usha Sunderraj, Karnataka Olympic Association President K Govindaraj and KOA secretary-general K Anantharaju.

The awards will be handed out by Governor HR Bharadwaj at the Raj Bhavan on Sunday.

List of awardees: Ekalavya: Kaushal Ravi Kumar (basketball, Bangalore); MS Thejkumar (chess, Mysore), Savitha N Gowdar (cycling, Bagalkot), Arun Maribashetti (equestrian, Mysore), Bindu N (fencing, Bangalore), Raghunath VR (hockey, Bangalore), L Jayanthi (kabaddi, Bangalore), Srinivasa M (kho-kho, Davangere), Aaron D’Souza (swimming, Bangalore), Madhavi Giri (swimming, Bangalore), Somnath S Girigoud (volleyball, Belgaum), Smitha Bhavakanna Patil (wrestling, Belgaum), Gyan Lakshmi Devi (weightlifting, Bangalore), Raghavendra Ratnakar Anvekar (physically challenged, Belgaum).

Life-time achievement: Triveni MN (Judo, Belgaum), Irom Debham Singh (fencing, Bangalore).