Madikeri, August 28: Three famous sports stars from undivided Dakshina Kannada district- Mamata Poojary, the skipper of the Indian women's Kabaddi team that won World Cup in Patna, Roshan Ferrao, an internationally acclaimed body builder and Neha Kumbra, a promising power lifter- were among the 18 sportspersons set to receive the prestigious Ekalavya awards for 2011 to be distributed on Wednesday.
The list was announced by Youth Services and Sports Minister MP Appachu Ranjan on Monday. Ranjan said, though there was a provision to give Ekalavya award to 15 sportspersons every year, only 12 received the awards last year. In order to make up for the shortcoming of the previous year, the award will be given to 18 sportspersons this year.
National swimming coach Pradeep Kumar, who is also the head coach of the Basavanagudi Aquatic Centre, has been named for the Lifetime achievement award.
“I am extremely happy that I got the recognition for my hard work,” said Mamata Poojary.
The Ekalavya award winners will receive Rs two lakh each while the Lifetime achievement awardees will get Rs 1.5 lakh each.
List of awardees: Ekalavya awards: Kashinath Naik (athletics), Kruthika Lakshman (basketball), GA Stany (chess), R Vinay Kumar (cricket), AB Cheeyanna (hockey), Mamatha Poojary (kabaddi), H Neha (powerlifting), Rakesh Manapata (rifle shooting), Prateek Raj (roller skating), Gagan AP (swimming), HS Chandrashouri Devi (weightlifting), Nadia Haridas (equestrian), Sabu Eshwar Ganagera (cycling), N Shwetha (volleyball), CV Rajanna (specially abled, athletics/ badminton), Rajesh Shinde (specially abled, swimming), Roshan Ferrao (bodybuilding), S Naveen (karate).
Lifetime Achievement awards: Shyamala Shetty (weightlifting), CU Ashwath (hockey), Pradeep Kumar (swimming), Chandrappa Mallappa Kurani (cycling).
Mr Ranjan said that Ekalavya awardees were selected based on their performances in the international, national and state-level events.
He said the award will be distributed at banquet hall in Vidhana Soudha on August 29 at 6 pm. Marks were earmarked for the participation in national, international and state -level events. As a result, those who got highest marks in each category were selected. “We were cautious while selecting the names,” he said.
“We had received a 93 applications for the Ekalavya award and 40 applications for the Lifetime achievement award.”
He said “we have asked the sports persons to write a letter to the state that all the certificates which they had attested along with the applications were genuine. If there was any loopholes, then criminal action will be initiated against such sports persons.”
The details of all the Ekalavya award winners have been sent to the Superintendent of Police of various districts, from where the awardees hail from, to verify their background. All the award winners will be given a uniform to wear for the award function. The men will be given coat, shirt, pant and tie and women will be given zaree sari.
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