The Hindu : Sport : First sports journalists awards night a grand success

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 06, 2005

Sport

Sport - Sports : General

First sports journalists awards night a grand success

Special Correspondent

MUMBAI: It was a night to remember for the sports journalists' fraternity here on Saturday, when the first Sports Journalist Federation of India (SJFI)'s annual awards were presented.

In the presence of some of India's best-known sportspersons and a gathering of sports journalists, India Today's Sharda Ugra and Mid-day (Mumbai)'s Ashish Raje received The Sports Writer of the Year (English) and Sports Photographer of the Year awards from Sunil Gavaskar and badminton great Nandu Natekar respectively.

The Hindu's Sports Editor, Nirmal Shekar, was adjudged The Tennis Writer of the Year, while Kadambari Murali of The Hindustan Times (New Delhi) won The Cricket Writer of the Year award.

The awards ceremony was emceed by Gautam Bhimani of ESPN-Star Sports and Aparna Kala of Star News, and it recognised outstanding work across media including the internet, television programming and news agencies.

Billiards ace and columnist Michael Ferreira, one of the judges in English language, was one of sporting luminaries present along with Indian hockey vice-captain Viren Rasquinha, Indian cricket vice-captain Rahul Dravid and ace women cueist Anuja Thakur.

Olympians and sporting achievers handing over awards included S.S. Narayan, Deryck de Souza, Mervyn Fernandes, Joaquim Carvalho, Uday Pawar, Ami Ghia, Devendra Joshi, Shubhangi Kulkarni, Ashok Pandit, Eddie Sequeira, Gurbux Singh, Kamlesh and Monalisa Mehta, to name a few.

The awards list:

Indian Sportswriter of Year (English): Sharda Ugra (India Today, New Delhi). Sportswriter of Year (Hindi): Rakesh Thapliyal (The Hindustan, New Delhi). Sportswriter of Year (Bengali): Munal Chattopadyay (Aaj Kal, Kolkata). Sportswriter of Year (Marathi): Vijay Salvi (Loksatta, Mumbai).

Indian Sports Photographer of Year: Ashish Raje (Mid-day, Mumbai). Best portrait: P.V. Sivakumar (The Hindu, Hyderabad). Best news picture on the field: Virendra Singh (The Hindustan Times, New Delhi). Best news picture off the field: Ashish Raje (Mid-day, Mumbai).

Specialist writing (English): Tennis: Nirmal Shekar (The Hindu, Chennai). Athletics: Jaideep Marar (Indian Express, Mumbai). Football: Dhiman Sarkar (The Hindustan Times, Kolkata). Hockey: V Narayanswamy (Deccan Herald, Bangalore). Cuesports: V. Satya (Deccan Herald, Bangalore). Cricket: Kadambari Murali (The Hindustan Times, New Delhi).

Languages (general): English: News story: Kadambari Murali (The Hindustan Times, New Delhi). Feature story: Mario Rodrigues (The Statesman, Mumbai). Offbeat story: Clayton Murzello (Mid-day, Mumbai). Interview Q/A: Anand Vasu (Wisden Asia Cricket).

Hindi: News story: Dharmendra Tripathi (Dainik Jagran, Kanpur). Feature story: Rakesh Thapliyal (The Hindustan, New Delhi). Special story: Vijay Kumar (Dainik Jagran, New Delhi).

Bengali: News story: Debasish Dutta (Aaj Kal, Kolkata), Feature story: Amarendra Chakaborty (Ganashakthi, Kolkata).

Marathi: News story: Sandeep Chavan (Saamna, Mumbai). Feature story: Vijay Salvi (Loksatta, Mumbai). Special story: Naresh Shelke (Sakal, Nagpur).

Best television feature: Aaj Tak. Best of the Web: Ivan Crasto (Rediff.com, Mumbai). Best of news agencies: Biju Babu Cyriac (Press Trust of India, New Delhi). Best headline: Times of India.