New Delhi: The names of Dhyan Chand, Sachin Tendukar, Abhinav Bindra and Vishwanathan Anand were banded about for the Bharat Ratna. But when this year’s Republic Day awards were announced Wednesday none of then was considered for the country’s highest civilian award and all that people connected with sports got were eight Padma Shris.
Ajeet Bajaj (skiing), Jhulan Goswami (women’s cricket), Zafar Iqbal (hockey), Devendra Jhajrija (athletics-paralympics), Limba Ram (sports-archery), Syed Mohammed Arif (badminton) are the six sportspersons who will get the Padma Shri while cricket commentator Ravi Chaturvedi and Prabhakar Vaidya (physical education) are the others to get awards in the sports category.
Zafar, a former India captain and coach, reacted in his typical unassuming way, saying that it was an honour to Indian hockey and the players.
Limba, who hails from the Ahari tribe in Rajasthan, said getting the Padma Shri 20 years after conferred with the Arjuna Award was a great feeling.
Describing the Padma Shri award as a “big motivation” to scale greater heights for the country in cricket, Indian women’s team captain Goswami said the honour has filled her with pride. (IANS)
