Punjab to honour 123 sportspersons tommorow

Chandigarh, July 14 (UNI) It will be probably the first time in the rich history of the Punjab sports that 123 outstanding sportspersons of the state will be honoured at a function tomorrow.

The occasion will be presentation of the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Award at the AKM Resort at Zirakpur Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh will be honouring the players for bringing laurels to the country and the state.

As the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Award was discontinued in 1996 due to financial constrains, the Punjab Government revived the highest state sports award after the Chief Minister had announced the decision during the first Indo-Pak Punjab Games in Patiala in 2004.

Applications were invited and the recipients were selected from 1997 to 2004.

According to information received by the Punjab Government, barring a few sportspersons all have confirmed to be present on the big occasion.

The organising committee reviewed the arrangements this evening.

Among those present at the venue were Chief Parliamentary Secretary Sports and Youth Affairs Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi, Secretary Sports RPS Pawar, Director Sports Padamshree Pargat Singh, Mohali Deputy Commissioner Tejbir Singh and Mohali SSP Naunihal Singh.

Meanwhile, the AKM Resort was humming with activities on the eve of the function. A large number of dignitaries, Cabinet Ministers, Olympians, internationals and bigwigs of sports fraternity will be present on the occasion. Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi and secretary general Randhir Singh are also expected to grace the occasion.

The recipients would be presented a cheque of Rs one lakh, a trophy of Maharaja Ranjit Singh on horse back in warrior's dress, blazer, tie and citation. Sports Director Padamshree Pargat Singh disclosed that amount of cash award had been hiked to Rs one lakh from Rs 21,000.

The game-wise break-up is: athletics (22), wrestling (16), hockey (15), handball (10), basketball (8), cycling (8), judo (8), shooting (7), volleyball (6), weightlifting (5), boxing (4), cricket (4), gymnastics (3), badminton (2), equestrian (3), fencing (1) and table tennis (1).

Test cricketers Yuvraj Singh (year of award 2004), Harbhajan Singh (2002), Dinesh Mongia (2004) and Reetinder Singh Sodhi (2002) have been selected for the award.

Four Indian hockey captains Padamshree Pargat Singh (1997), Baljit Singh Dhillon (1997), Gagan Ajit Singh (2001) and Ramandeep Singh (1999) are among the 15 hockey players chosen for the award.

Padam Shree athlete Sunita Rani ( 2000), thrower Bahadur Singh (1999), Madhuri Singh (2003), Jagdish Kumar Bishnoi (1999), walker Jasmine Kaur (2004), Sagardeep Kaur (2004) and Harjit Kaur (1998) are among the 22 stars from the track and field competitions selected for the award. Badminton players Sachin Rati and Vijayadeep Singh are among the list of the awardees.

Meanwhile, the Punjab Sports Department has established a full -fledged media centre at the AKM Resort to fecilitate the media persons to quickly send their reports/photographs to their respective offices to meet the deadline. Computers with internet facility and fax machine will be installed at the communication centre, said Pargat Singh.

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