Siddaramaiah to present sports awards

Mysuru: Chief minister Siddaramaiah will present Ekalavya lifetime achievement award, Karnataka Kreeda Rathna award and scholarship to outstanding sportspersons at the Senate Bhavan in the University of Mysore on Tuesday at 10.30am. Among 15 Ekalavya awardees for the year 2014, four are from Mysuru.
The Ekalavya awards are given to outstanding sports who have come out with consistent performance for five years.The criteria for the award is the candidate should have represented state in five preceding national championships and performed consistently in five state championships. Four sportspersons from Mysuru - Akash Aradhya (roller skating), O Sushmitha Pawar (kabaddi), Nisha Joseph (volleyball) and N Lokesh (gymnastic) are among the 15 Ekalavya awardees chosen for the Ekalavya award for 2014. The awardees will be given cash award of Rs 2 lakh and a citation.
Four senior sportspersons Prabhakar I Devangi (hockey), H Chandrashekar (football), Shridar Kumar (kabaddi) and I Amaldas (boxing) will be honoured with lifetime achievement awards which includes cash award of Rs 1.5 lakh and citation. Ten sportspersons who have excelled in rural sports MR Kavya, (ballbadminton), Vinod Rathod (hatya patya), Dundappa Dasannanavar (malkamba), BK Roopashree (kabbadi), Karthick G Kati (wrestling -- jangi kusthi), Yogesh (kho-kho), Anil Kumar H Shettar (yoga), Jayakumar Yane Nakre Jayakara Madivala (kambla), Kolachuru Kondattu Sukumara Shetty (kambla) and Ibrahim Sab M Arab (weightlifting -Gundu Yethuvudu) will be honoured with Karnataka Kreeda Rathna Award, instituted to boost rural sports. The award consists of Rs 1 lakh cash award and a citation.
Financial assistance
Apart from this, the state government, to promote and help outstanding sportspersons, has come up with scholarships. Among them, BR Nikshep will receive the highest financial assistance of Rs 8 lakh followed by international cyclist Krishna Naikodi and 16-year-old tennis player Rashmika Rajan, who will be given Rs 7.5 lakh and 6.5 lakh respectively. Promising chess players from Mysuru M S Thejkumar and Girish Kaushik will be awarded Rs 3.5 lakh and Rs 2.5 lakh respectively. To help 41 promising sportspersons government is spending Rs 148 lakh.