New Delhi: Six coaches including the London Olympics bronze medal wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt's mentor Yashvir Singh, were on Friday recomended for the prestigious Dronacharya Award.
Along with Yashvir, the other five coaches those who were selected are Virender Poonia, Sunil Davas (kabbadi), Harinder Singh (hockey), Dr Satyapal (parathletics), and India's boxing coach from Cuba BI Fernandez.
"Ordinarily not more than 5 Dronacharya awards could be given in any calendar year. However, taking into consideration that this is the year of Olympic Games and Paralympic Games and there has been immense contribution of coaches in the improved performance of the sportspersons, the Government has decided to increase the number of Dronacharya Awards from 5 to 8 for the current year," the Sports Ministry said through a statement.
"Taking into account the outstanding contributions of BI Fernandez, Cuban Boxing Coach in the performance of the Indian Boxers in the international sports events including mega events such as Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, Dronacharya Award will also be conferred upon BI Fernandez. He is the first foreign coach to receive Dronacharya Award," it added.
JS Bhatia (Athletics), Bhawani Mukherjee (Table Tennis) were selected for Life Time Achievement award
Virender, the husband and coach of Krishna Poonia, helped her win the first ever Indian woman individual gold medal winner in athletics in the Commonwealth Games. He was also Krishna’s coach at the London Olympics.
The Dronacharya Awards committee was headed by former Indian hockey captain Aslam Sher Khan. The other members include Rajkumar Sangwan (boxing), Dhanraj Pillai (hockey), Shiny Wilson (athletics), Morad Ali Khan (shooting), Karnam Malleswari (weightlifting), Bahadur Singh (athletics), Bhupender Dhawan (powerlifting), GS Sandhu (boxing), Ramphan Mann (wrestling), Prem Chand Degra (body building).
Meanwhile, Jagraj Singh Mann (Athletics), Gundeep Kumar (Hockey), Vinod Kumar (Wrestling) and Sukhbir Singh Tokas (Para-Sports) were named for the Dhyan Chand Award.
"Not more than three Dhyan Chand Awards are given in a particular year. However considering that 2012 is the year of Paralympic Games, the Ministry has decided to increase the number of Dhyan Chand Awards from 3 to 4 for the current year," the statement said.
The government also named Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB), Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) and Air India Sports Promotion Board for the Rashtriya Khel Protsahana.
By Indian Sports News Network
