P.T. Usha to get Basavashree Award

September 12, 2009 04:51 pm | Updated 09:37 pm IST - Chitradurga

A file photo of Athletic legend P.T.Usha. Photo: S. Ramesh Kurup

A file photo of Athletic legend P.T.Usha. Photo: S. Ramesh Kurup

This year’s Basavashree Award will be given to sporting legend P.T. Usha.

Disclosing this at a press conference here on Saturday, Shivamurthy Murughaswamy of the Murugha Math said the math had selected the former athlete for the award taking into account the tremendous contribution she had made to her field.

Giving a brief account of her career, the swami said Ms. Usha, who was popularly known as Payyoli Express, also became popular as the Golden Girl, for bringing glory to India in athletics.

She was honoured with a number of prestigious awards such as the Arjuna Award in 1983 and the Padma Shri in 1985. The Indian Olympic Association also honoured her with the Sportsperson of the Century and the Sportswoman of the Millennium titles.

The swami said the award, which included cash of Rs. 1 lakh and a citation, would be given to her on September 27, 2009 as part of the Sharana Samskriti Utsava.

The math had been giving away the award for the past 12 years. Other eminent personalities who had received it were: the Dalai Lama, social activists Anna Hazare, Medha Patkar and Swami Agnivesh, the former police officer Kiran Bedi and actor Shabana Azmi, he said.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.