National Sports Awards: The Ministry of Sports has increased the last date for submitting applications for the National Sports Awards till 22 June, 2020 and permitted players to nominate themselves.(Source: PTI)The Ministry of Sports increased the last date for submitting applications for National Sports Awards till 22nd June, 2020, and permitted athletes to nominate themselves in wake of the "problems" they face in finding players amid the closure of COVID-19.Wednesday was the last day to complete the nomination process, but the period has been extended along with relaxation in the process due to the problems athletes face in "obtaining the recommendation of the authorities/persons prescribed due to the blockade across the country, there is a pandemic of COVID-19".A circular from the Ministry of Sports said, "It was decided to abolish the requirement to submit the recommendations of the authorities/people stipulated in the award scheme only.""The portion of the application form which needs the advocacy of the authorities/people can be left blank."The ministry has only invited email requests this year due to the epidemic.According to the stipulated rules, nominations for national awards can only be made in conjunction with the recommendation of the National Federation, Sports Council, and previous winners.Relaxation offers a window of opportunity for athletes who have not been shortlisted by their national sports federations and are not accredited by previous winners.Awards, including Rajiv Gandhi's horses, Ratna, are presented each year on August 29, the anniversary of the birth of hockey magician Dian Chand, who is also celebrated as National Sports Day.img source: the bridgeAlso Read: La Liga: Spain considering allowing soccer fans to return to matches
Deepa Malik, a semi-athlete and only Paralympic medalist and medalist from India has been elected Chair of the Indian Paralympic Committee, although the election results are subject to a case pending in the Delhi High Court.Deepa Malik, 49, who won the silver medal in the F-53 shot put event at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games, was elected unchallenged as president in the PCI election held in Bangalore on Friday.“My sincere congratulations on the start of new entries for a new term in @ParalympicIndia. Expressing my gratitude that I have been assigned to the presidency and welcome an athlete-focused approach to paralympic sports in India,” Deepa Malik wrote on his Twitter account."A wonderful transformation for me personally, for which I look forward to continued support. I hope to do my duty with complete honesty and integrity."Gurcharan Singh, who was the interim president after former president Rao Inderjit Singh was sacked from his post last year, was also elected without opposition.Kavender Choudhury and Shashi Ranjan Prasad Singh were elected Vice-Chairs, while M. Mahadeva was appointed as Treasurer. Neil Nandkishwar Baburao and Cantilal Parmar were elected Deputy Secretary-General.Returning Officer R Radha, a retired district judge and judge of additional hearings, announced that the incumbents said the results would be subject to new orders for approval in a case pending before the Delhi High Court.Malik remembers his trip to the 2016 ParalympicsDiba, who is also a Rajiv Gandhi Kheil Ratna recipient and Padma Shri winner, also won the silver medal at the 2011 IPC World Championships at the F 52-53 shot put event, in addition to being awarded a silver medal in Discus Throw (F 52-53) and Throwing Events Javelin (F 53-54) at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia.And the Sports Ministry in September last year had questioned the PCI's credibility, citing a violation of the National Sports Act in Paracorps' decision to expel Rao Inderjit Singh. The ministry said it found the PCI response regarding Rao Inderjit's removal unsatisfactory.The PCI changed its statute to block access to public officials during its annual general assembly on May 4 last year. Singh was a minister of state (planning) in the union government at the time."This is the first time that an elite athlete has been appointed as the head of a sports body to compete in it," Gurcharan said of Deepa's selection.Gurcharan hopes that the CCP will regain recognition from the Ministry of Sports if the Delhi High Court declares these elections valid."The Ministry of Sports is a party to the pending case before the Delhi High Court, so if the Supreme Court says the elections are correct, I think that should also be binding on the Ministry of Sports," Gurcharan said.Also Read: ROAD SAFETY WORLD SERIES 2021: FULL LIST OF MATCHES(TIMETABLE), VENUES, TICKET BOOKING
An unprecedented 11 sportspersons have been recommended for this year's rechristened Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna by the national sports award's selection committee headed by retired Supreme Court judge, Justice Mukundakum Sharma. This is the first time that many names have been recommended for a single edition of the Awards Ceremony. Last year, the government honored a total of 74 athletes with the National Sports and Adventure Awards in different segments. The awardees included five in the Khel Ratna category and 27 for Arjuna. This year, a total of 72 names have been recommended for the Khel Ratna, Arjuna (35), Dhyan Chand, Dronacharya (regular) and Dronacharya (lifetime). The list doesn't include names of athletes, corporates and sports promotion boards and top-performing universities recommended for the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar (RKPP), Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) trophy and Tenzing Norgay award. Among those who have been recommended for the Khel Ratna - India's highest sporting honour - include tokyo olympics gold medallist javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, silver-winning men's freestyle wrestler Ravi Dahiya, Tokyo olympics bronze medallist woman welterweight boxer Lovlina Borgohain and men's hockey team's goalkeeper P R Sreejesh. Five para-athletes, who created history by winning gold each at the Tokyo Paralympics, have also been nominated for the Khel Ratna. These include Pramod Bhagat (para-badminton), Sumit Antil (para-javelin), Avani Lekhara (para-shooting), Krishna Nagar (para-badminton) and Manish Narwal (para-shooting).KHEL RATNA: Neeraj Chopra (athletics), Ravi Dahiya (wrestling), PR Sreejesh (hockey), Lovlina Borgohain (boxing in olympics), Sunil Chhetri (football), Mithali Raj (cricket), Pramod Bhagat (parabadminton), Sumit Antil (para- javelin), Avani Lekhara (para-shooting), Krishna Nagar (para-badminton) and Manish Narwal (para-shooting).ARJUNA AWARD: Arpinder Singh (triple jump), Simranjit Kaur (boxing), Shikhar Dhawan (cricket), Bhavani Devi (fencing), Monika (hockey), Vandana Katariya (hockey), Sandeep Narwal (kabaddi), Himani Uttam Parab (mallakhamb) ), Abhishek Verma (shooting), Ankita Raina (tennis), Deepak Punia (wrestling), Dilpreet Singh (hockey), Harmanpreet Singh (hockey), Rupinder Pal Singh (hockey), Surendra Kumar (hockey), Amit Rohidas (hockey) , Birendra Lakra (hockey), Sumit (hockey), Nilakanta Sharma (hockey), Hardik Singh (hockey), Vivek Sagar Prasad (hockey), Gurjant Singh (hockey), Mandeep Singh (hockey), Shamsher Singh (hockey), Lalit Kumar Upadhyay (hockey), Varun Kumar (hockey), Simranjeet Singh (hockey), Yogesh Kathuniya (para-athletics), Nishad Kumar (para-athletics), Praveen Kumar (para-athletics), Suhash Yathiraj (para-badminton), Singhraj Adhana (parashooting), Bhavina Patel (paratable tennis), Harvinder Singh (para-archery) and Sharad Kumar (para-athletics).DHYANCHAND AWARD: OP Jaisha (athletics), Divya Singh (basketball), KC Lekha (boxing), Abhijeet Kunte (chess), Davinder Singh Garcha (hockey), Vikas Kumar (kabaddi), Nir Bahadur Gurung (para sports athletics), PS Abdul Rassak (volleyball) and Sajjan Singh (wrestling) DRONACHARYA (REGULAR): Jai Prakash Nautiyal (para-shooting), Mahaveer Prasad Saini (para-athletics), Pritam Siwach (hockey), Radhakrishnan Nair (athletics), Sandeep Sangwan (hockey) ), Sandhya Gurung (boxing), Sujeet Maan (wrestling) and Subramanian Raman (table tennis).DRONACHARYA (LIFETIME): Ashan Kuamr (kabaddi), Bhaskar Chandra Bhatt (hockey), CR Kumar (hockey), Jagrup Rathi (wrestling), S Muralidharan (badminton), Sarkar Talwar (sports cricket), Sarpal Singh (hockey), Tapan Kumar Panigrahi (swimming) and TP Ouseph (athletics).Also Read- Afghanistan Captain Mohammad Nabi before PC: 5 minute mei English Khatam Ho Jayegi
