K'taka Govt felicitates Kumble, presents Rs 5 lakh

Bangalore, Apr 5 (UNI) The Karnataka Government today felicitated ace leg spinner Anil Kumble for bringing laurels to the state by bagging 500 test wickets.

Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy handed over a cheque for Rs five lakh and a memento to Kumble at an impressive ceremony held at the conference hall of the Vidhana Soudha here.

Speaking on the occasion, Kumble said ''I am very much honoured by the state government's gesture. Being felicitated by my home state brings me greater satisfaction and pride.'' Kumble said the state had always produced great sports personalities in all disciplines in general and cricket in particular and referred to legendary cricketers from the state like G R Vishwanath, B S Chandrashekhar, E A S Prasanna, S M H Kirmani, Brijesh Patel and Roger Binny.

Karnataka had always contributed significantly to the sports arena, be it national or international and promoted talents such as Prakash Padukone (Badminton), P Ganesh (Hockey) and Aravind Savur, Michel Ferriera and Pankaj Advani (Snooker and Billiards).

Revealing his plans to start a Sports Academy in the state to groom budding talents, the legendary cricketer appealed to the state government to provide him land to realise his dream.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Kumaraswamy assured Kumble that his government would provide him land for the purpose.

Lauding him for his contributions to the field of cricket, the Chief Minister wished Kumble good luck to achieve many more milestones in his illustrious career and surpass the record set by Australian cricketer Shane Warne and Sri Lankan Muthaiah Muralidharan.

Sports Minister Hanumanthappa Alkod also spoke on the occasion.

Besides Kumble's family members, the other dignitaries who graced the occasion included State Assembly Speaker Krishna, Council Chairman V R Sudarshan and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly N Dharam Singh.

UNI MV RG DH BS2024