SAI confers 246 athletes and coaches with first-ever SAI Institutional Awards

SAI confers 246 athletes and coaches with first-ever SAI Institutional
Awards; [15 awardees are from SAI centre]
November 17: The first-ever SAI Institutional Awards for Athletes and Coaches
were given out by the Sports Authority of India on Wednesday, in the presence
of the Union Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports Shri Anurag Thakur and Minister
of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Shri Nitish Pramanik. Also present were
Secretary-Sports Smt Sujata Chaturvedi, Director-General, Sports Authority of
India, Shri Sandip Pradhan, as well as other officials from the Sports Ministry
and the Sports Authority of India.
A total of 162 athletes and 84 coaches have been conferred awards in the
Outstanding Award and Best Award category for their performance in National
and International Competitions, with cash awards amounting to a total of Rs
85.02 Lakhs during the ceremony at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium New Delhi.
The awards acknowledged the exceptional performance of the SAI athletes and
coaches under the various sports promotion schemes at the national and
international level from 2016. The awards thus have been granted to the
deserving candidates for the years of 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20.
[A total of 09 Athletes and 06 Coaches have been awarded from our centre.
Some of them include 2 athletes and 2 coaches]
Praising the award winners, Shri Thakur said, “I heartily congratulate all athletes
and coaches who have been awarded today. Sports is very close to the heart of
our Hon’ble PM Shri Narendra Modi ji and taking his vision forward, a host of
facilities are being extended to athletes. Every athlete is an inspiration for his
generation.”
Shri Thakur also added the importance of Sports being an integral part of the
National Education Policy. “When the sporting achievements of a student are
announced in his or her school, it inspires other students to look beyond just
academics and include sports in their life. That is the power of an athlete. I am
also glad that sport has become an integral part of the National Education Policy
and therefore is a part of every student’s life now,” Shri Thakur added.
The categories of awards were Outstanding Award (for National level
achievements) and Best Award (for international level achievements). The
selection committee comprised senior SAI officials as well as eminent sports
persons, who streamlined the nominations received from the Regional Directors
of the various SAI National Centres of Excellence.
“It’s a momentous occasion to see the awards given out in the year of Azadi ka
Amrit Mahotsav. I wish all the success to the champions. These awards are a
way of assuring our athletes and coaches that the Sports Authority of India is
always there is to support them,” Minister of State Shri Pramanik mentioned.