By IANS
New Delhi : Ace trap shooter Manavjit Singh Sandhu was Thursday confirmed as the winner of the 2006 Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, India’s highest sports accolade.
As reported by IANS Wednesday, besides Sandhu, 14 athletes were picked for the Arjuna Award, India’s oldest sports honour launched in 1961, three coaches for the Dronacharya Award and three personalities for the Dhyan Chand Award for lifetime achievement.
The sports ministry said that President Pratibha Patil will confer the awards at Rashtrapari Bhawan Aug 29, the birthday of hockey wizard Dhyan Chand that is also celebrated as the National Sports Day.
While the lone cricket World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev chaired the panel that picked the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, the Arjuna Awards and the Dhyan Chand Awards, badminton great Prakash Padukone headed the panel that chose Dronacharya Award winners.
While the panel meetings were held here Wednesday, the sports ministry made the announcement Thursday.
The Rajiv Khel Ratna Award comprises Rs.500,000, a scroll of honour and a medal in recognition of spectacular and most outstanding performance in sports.
The Arjuna Award comprises Rs.300,000, a statute of warrior Arjuna and a scroll of honour in recognition of outstanding achievements at international level and for showing qualities of leadership, sportsmanship and sense of discipline. A maximum of 15 sportspersons can be given this honour in a year.
A panel member told IANS that Kapil was very insistent that only 14 deserving athletes were chosen for the awards.
The Dhyan Chand Award for life-time achievement in sports consists of Rs.300,000, a plaque and a scroll of honour to not more than three sportspersons in a year in recognition of their contribution their performance and continued contribution after retirement.
The Dronacharya Award comprises a plaque and a scroll of honour and Rs.300,000 to not more than five coaches for their outstanding and meritorious work on a consistent basis.
Winners all:
Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna 2006: Manavjeet Singh Sandhu (trap shooting)
Arjuna Awards 2006: Jayanta Talukdar (archery), K.M. Binu (athletics), Chetan Anand (badminton), Vijender (boxing), P. Harikrishna (chess), Anjum Chopra (cricket), Jyoti Sunita Kullu (women’s hockey), Vijay Kumar (shooting), Sourav Ghosal (squash), Subhajit Saha (table tennis), Geeta Rani (weightlifting), Geetika Jakhar (wrestling), Naveen Gautam (kabaddi) and Rohit Bhakar (badminton-disabled category)
Dhyan Chand Awards 2007: Varinder Singh (hockey), Shamsher Singh (kabaddi), Rajendra Singh (wrestling)
Dronacharya Awards 2006: R.D. Singh (athletics/Paralympic Games), Damodaran Chandralal (boxing) and Koneru Ashok (chess)