Gandhe, Prajakta, Mirza,Mallika, Trivedi win honours

Gandhe, Prajakta, Mirza, Mallika, Trivedi win honours
Hislop, Bhavan’s to get awards
NAGPUR, July 13, 2008
Vidarbha Ranji captain Preetam Gandhe, noted swimmer Prajakta Khangan, upcoming hockey player Ather Mirza, international table tennis player Mallika Bhandarkar and noted sports organiser Vinod Kumar Trivedi were selected for the annual awards of Sports Journalists’ Association of Nagpur (SJAN) and Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC).The awards will be conferred on July 13 at Tilak Patrakar Bhavan auditorium at 10.30 am. Adv Shashank Manohar, President-elect, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will be the chief guest.Addressing mediapersons SJAN secretary Rahul Dixit said that Civil Lines branch of Bhavan’s Bhagwandas Purohit Vidya Mandir has been selected as best school working for promotion of sports while Hislop College has been selected as best college in the same category.The best senior sportsman’s award will be conferred on Preetam Gandhe. Under his leadership Vidarbha reached the semi-finals of the Ranji One-Dayers last season for the first time. For last two years Gandhe has been amongst the top five wicket-takers in Plate group. The veteran off-spinner has so far scalped 330 wickets in 96 first class matches. He will get Mayor’s Trophy and Rs 5,000 cash.Swimmer Prajakta Khangan will be given the best senior sportswoman’s award. Prajakta participated in World University Games held at Bangkok last year. She is only the third player of the Nagpur University who participated in any world meet. She also clinched two gold medals in Inter-University Swimming Championships in 2006-07 which is a first in Nagpur University’s history. She will be honoured with Mayor's Trophy and Rs 5,000 cash.The best junior sportsman’s award will go to upcoming hockey player Ather Mirza. Ather was the member of Indian team that finished runners-up in Four-Nation Junior Hockey Tournament held at Singapore. He also scored a goal in the final against Australia. Ather is the only player from Vidarbha to be selected in the Indian hockey team. He also represented Maratha Warriors in the Premier Hockey League (PHL). He will get WCL Trophy and cash prize of Rs 3,000.International-fame table tennis player Mallika Bhandarkar has been chosen for the best junior sportswoman’s award. Mallika has been selected in Indian team for Asian Children’s Table Tennis Tournament under way in Russia. A student of Modern School, Mallika is displaying very consistent performance at national and international level for last several years. Last year she represented India in four tournaments and also bagged medals. Mallika will be awarded Baidyanath Trophy and cash prize of Rs 3,000.The special award for best organiser will go to noted sports organiser Vinod Kumar Trivedi. The veteran has a lion’s share in development of sports in the city. He is related with various sports organisations including bridge, chess, hockey etc. for last 40 years. He will get SJAN Trophy and Rs 3,000 cash.Bhavan’s Bhagwandas Purohit Vidya Mandir, Civil Lines has been selected as best school promoting sporting activities. The school bagged as many as 13 titles in various tournaments. Four of its players also clinched gold medals in nationals. The school also showed outstanding performance in CBSE sports events. It will get a trophy donated by Centre Point School and cash prize of Rs 3,000.A new award has been instituted from this year for the best college promoting sporting activities. The first recipient of the award will be Hislop College. Hislop has maintained its sporting tradition for several years and bagged as many as 25 titles last year. It is the only college which has a sports council. The management also offers 50 per cent concession in fees to sportspersons participating in the nationals and 25 per cent to those who participate in the state-level tournaments.The annual awards function will be presided over by Maya Iwnate, Mayor. Aseem Gupta, Municipal Commissioner; Kishor Kumeria, Deputy Mayor; Krishna Khopde, NMC Standing Committee Chairman; Arundev Upadhyaya, Director of Centre Point School; Prof. Anil Sole, ruling party leader in NMC; Praful Gudadhe-Patil, leader of the opposition; Suresh Sharma, joint MD of Baidyanath Ayurved Limited; DC Garg, CMD of Western Coalfields Limited and others will also grace the function.