Better late than never seemed to be the motto for various sports awards committees this year. The nominees for the Dronacharya award for excellence in coaching and the Dhyan Chand award for lifetime achievement, finalised here on Monday, included names long overdue for recognition.
Among those recommended for the Dronacharya award are veteran athletics coach N. Lingappa and boxing coach Ganapathy Manoharan.
The 90-year old Bangalore-based Lingappa, whose students include former track star Ashwini Nachappa and long jumper Sathish Pillai, has been applying for the award for more than a decade.
Manoharan, on the other hand, is an Arjuna awardee who has shaped the careers of several Indian boxing stars including Venkatesan Devarajan, Dingko Singh, Nanao Singh, Shiva Thapa and Vikas Yadav, to name a few.
In fact, some of his students like Jaidev Bisht have already been conferred with the award for excellence in coaching even as Manoharan waited for his turn.
Others who have been recommended for the award include renowned rowing coach Jose Jacob, who has led Orissa to the national rowing title for 13 years and groomed several youngsters for national duty, and Greco-Roman wrestling coach Mahavir Prasad, who was instrumental in India’s big medal haul at the 2010 Asian Games.
Judoka Gurcharan Gogi, employed with the Sports Authority of India and working for more than a decade at the grassroots, has also been recommended for the award, becoming the first judo coach in the country to receive the honour after years of rejection.
Three names have been shortlisted for the Dhyan Chand award. Asian Games gold medallist and former Davis Cupper Zeeshan Ali, who is now into coaching, has been recommended for the lifetime achievement award along with Gurmail Singh, member of the 1980 Moscow Olympics gold-winning hockey team.
Gurmail, married to former Indian women’s hockey captain and Arjuna awardee Rajbir Kaur Rai, is employed with Punjab Police.
Last but not the least, diver KP Thakkar — who won gold in both the 10m platform and 3m springboard event at the inaugural Asian Games in 1951 and bronze in the 10m four years later in Manila — has also been recommended for the award.
The Arjuna and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awardees would be finalised on Tuesday.
