Bishan Bedi presents SJAN annual sports awards

NAGPUR: Players should take the criticism in their strides and always try to answer the critics with a strong performance on the field, said Bishan Singh Bedi here on Sunday.
The former Indian cricket team captain was addressing the gathering during the SJAN-Raisoni Achievers annual award function, organized by the Sports Journalists' Association of Nagpur (SJAN) in association with Raisoni Group at Scientific Hall, Laxmi Nagar.
"Sportspersons should take the criticism positively. It's a part and parcel of their career. One must learn from it and try to improve all the time," said Bedi, who has played Test cricket for India from 1966 to 1979 and was part of the famous Indian spin quartet with Erapalli Prasanna, Chandrashekhar and Venkatraghavan.
The legendary spinner was of the opinion that new policy should be chalked out to give the much-needed boost to the Indian sports. The 67-year-old veteran mulled the idea of forming new administrative set up -- Indian Sports Services (ISS) on the lines of Indian Administrative Services (IAS) and Indian Police Service (IPS).
"There are IAS and IPS in the country. Indian sports also need the services of well-trained officers. If that happens, the role of sports officials, who are at the helm of affairs of various sports federations for quite long time, will come to an end and it will overall give the fillip to the Indian sports," said Bedi, who also promised to help the budding cricketers of the region.
Chairman of Raisoni Group, Sunil Raisoni, thanked SJAN for selecting the best sportspersons for the awards.
Bedi presented the awards to Vidarbha opener Faiz Fazal, young athlete Jyoti Chavan, promising shuttler Rohan Gurbani (all Raisoni Trophy), talented hoopster Mugdha Amraotkar (Baidyanath Trophy) and ex-hockey player Manish Gour (Meeradevi Dasture Trophy).
Nehru Vidyalaya, Hingna (Centre Point School Trophy) and SK Porwal College (KC Bajaj Memorial Trophy) were honoured for their contributions in the field of sports.
Director of Raisoni Group V Gopalkrishnan, noted sports organizer Deven Dasture, DSO Vijay Santan and marketing manager of Bank of Maharashtra Mohan Tonge were also present on the occasion.
SJAN treasurer Suhas Nayse and Dr Ram Thakur conducted the proceedings while secretary Kishor Bagde proposed a vote of thanks.