NEW DELHI, Aug 31:
Robbed of some sheen due to selection controversies this year, the National Sports Awards were presented today to the country’s top athletes and coaches with shooter Ronjan Sodhi getting the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna — the country’s highest sporting honour — while cricketer Virat Kohli was among the Arjuna awardees.
A loud applause greeted the ace shooter as he received the Khel Ratna award from President Pranab Mukherjee in the presence of a host of Ministers, dignitaries and sports celebrities.
But there was some drama just hours before the awards when long-jumper Renjith Maheshwary’s Arjuna award was held back after reports emerged of him being a dope-tainted athlete.
Sodhi became the seventh shooter to be honoured with the prestigious award. Interestingly, it is for the third consecutive year that the Khel Ratna award has gone to a shooter.
“It’s a huge honour for me. It will motivate me to do better, spur me to win more laurels for the country. A medal in Olympics is the greatest achievement for a sportsperson and that is the only thing I want to win next,” Sodhi told reporters.
“I am off to Italy to train for 12 days and then head to Peru for the World Championships. Rio is my target and I am very optimistic about qualifying for the Olympics and winning a medal there.”
Sodhi, who had a disastrous outing at the London Olympics last year, is a former world number one. He was a double trap gold-medallist at last year’s Asian Games, besides being a silver-medallist at the Commonwealth Games.
Sodhi, who was the first Indian to win two back-to-back World Cup gold medals, collected the top honour which comprises a medal, citation and a cash prize of Rs 7.5 lakh each.
Another star attraction at the ceremony was cricketer Kohli, who was given a thunderous applause while receiving the Arjuna award.
However, rising badminton player P V Sindhu, who became the first Indian woman shuttler to clinch a bronze medal at the World Championships, could not be present at the function personally to take the award.
Besides Sindhu, this year’s Arjuna awardees list featured a number of female sportspersons. World Championship bronze medallist Kavita Chahal, veteran squash player Joshna Chinappa, former hockey captain Saba Anjum, paddler Mouma Das, wrestler Neha Rathi and shooter Rajkumari Rathore and archer Chekrovolu Swuro, who was part of the silver medal-winning team in the 2011 World Cup.(PTI)
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