SJAN-Raisoni annual achievers awards function on Dec 21

Divya, Akshay, Himanshi, Nayan, Kashikar to be honoured

DRONACHARYA AWARDEE HARENDRA SINGH TO BE CHIEG GUEST

Sports Journalists' Association of Nagpur (SJAN) and GH Raisoni Group of Institutions will be honouring sportspersons of the city during its annual SJAN-Raisoni Annual Achievers Awards function. The SJAN-Raisoni Annual Achievers Awards function will be held on December 21 at the Press Club hall, opposite Institute of Science, Civil Lines at 10.30 am.

Former India midfielder, Dronacharya awardee, and national women’s hockey coach Harendra Singh will grace the occasion as the chief guest. Sunil Raisoni, Chairman Raisoni Education, will preside over.

This year, Indian women’s chess star and Olympiad gold medalist Divya Deshmukh, Vidarbha Ranji Trophy skipper Akshay Wadkar, India U-19 hockey player Himanshi Gawande, junior international athlete Nayan Sarde will be rewarded for their achievements.

Similarly, senior vice president of  Maharashtra Badminton Association, Badminton Association of India’s tournament committee member and secretary of Nagpur District Badminton Association Mangesh Kashikar will be honored for his contribution in the development of badminton. Centre Point School, Amravati Road Bypass (Dabha), in Schools and Mahal’s CP & Berar College will be honoured for their work in sports promotion, informs Paritosh Pramanik, Secretary, SJAN.

On the occasion, Siddhesh Sharma, senior, Vice-President, Baidyanath and Deaven Dasture, director The South Public School, will share the dais as guests of honour.

Awardees and their achievements:

Divya Deshmukh (Best Senior Sportswoman): Nagpur's Golden Girl & Women Grand Master (WGM) Divya Deshmukh played a pivotal role in the Indian women team’s historic title triumph at the Chess Olympiad at Budapest, Hungary, in September. Divya also won an individual gold medal in the Olympiad. Earlier this year, Divya became the World Junior Chess champion and within a few months graduated to the senior level on her way to play a crucial role for the Indian women’s team. At the Olympiad Divya was the lone Indian player to play all 11 rounds, remaining unbeaten throughout. With 8 wins and 3 draws, she amassed 9.5 points and gave a performance rating of 2586 Elo to clinch the Board 3 individual gold medal.

Akshay Wadkar (Best Senior Sportsman): Vidarbha Ranji Trophy skipper Akshay Wadkar has played 56 First Class matches, 47 List 'A' and 28 T20 ties. Under his leadership, Vidarbha finished runners-up last season in Ranji Trophy. None other than Indian cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar had praised his century knock against Mumbai in the final. He played match-winning century knock against Delhi in Vidarbha's maiden Ranji Trophy title victory at Indore in 2017-18. He made his first-class debut for Vidarbha in the 2017–18 Ranji Trophy match on 17 November. Since then he has never looked back and has so far scored 3, 487 runs consisting of ten hundreds and 18 half centuries . In the current season, Vidarbha have won four matches out of five and are on top place with 28 points.

Himanshi Gawande (Best Junior Sportswoman): Nagpur’s Himanshi Gawande has been a consistent performer of Maharashtra at the junior national hockey championship. Himanshi has represented Maharashtra at the junior nationals on three occasions and played for Vidarbha once. Himanshi’s consistent performance helped her secure a berth in the junior India contingent as first reserve player for the Junior Asia Cup in Oman. The team won gold medal on Sunday.

Nayan Sarde (Best Junior Sportsman): Buldhana sprinter Nayan Sarde, who was trained and groomed in Nagpur became the city’s first runner to represent India in the U-20 World Athletics Championships in Lima, Peru, in August. The 20-year-old Nayan secured his first international medal in Chennai when Nayan clinched the silver medal in the 110m hurdles at the South Asian Athletics Federation (SAAF) Junior Championships.

Mangesh Kashikar (Best Sports Organiser): Mangesh Kashikar is the senior vice president Maharashtra Badminton Association (MBA), Badminton Association of India’s (BAI) tournament committee member and secretary of Nagpur District Badminton Association (NDBA). After his playing days, Kashikar actively promoted badminton while organizing over 200 tournaments. Under Kashikar Nagpur hosted senior nationals badminton tournaments while many state level tournaments. He will be honoured with Meeradevi Dasture Trophy.

Centre Point School, Amravati Road Bypass, Dabha (Best School): The school is performing consistently in the field of sports and are winner of several inter-school and district level titles in many sporting disciplines. The school has groomed many talented sportspersons including star India shuttler Malvika Bansod and has been consistently organizing various sporting activities. The School will be awarded the South Public School Trophy.

CP & Berar College Mahal (Best College): The college is promoting sports in the city and has been regularly producing international and national level players in Athletics, Swimming, Cycle Polo, Hockey and Handball. The college will get KC Bajaj Trophy For Service Towards Sports.