Some of the best athletes of the country were not present to receive the government cash awards, but there were coaches, themselves star athletes in their prime, who found time to accept the incentive in person at the National Stadium here on Monday.
World champion Sushil Kumar, billiards and snooker exponents Pankaj Advani and Geet Sethi, World No. 2 woman chess player Koneru Humpy, World champion shooter Tejaswini Sawant, apart from Gagan Narang, and junior World champion Asher Noria, swimming stars Virdhawal Khade and Sandeep Sejwal, could not be present owing to prior commitments, at the function organised by the Union Sports Ministry.
However, archery coach Limba Ram, badminton ace P. Gopi Chand, boxer Dharmender Singh Yadav and athletics coach Bahadur Singh, stalwarts in their prime, brightened the evening with their presence.
Fitting
In a way it was fitting, as it was more an occasion to felicitate the coaches, about 100 of whom were scheduled to be presented more than Rs. 5.5 crore in all, for assisting Indian players win medals in various international competitions, including the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games. About 50 per cent of the coaches were present. Shooting and wrestling accounted for about Rs. 2.5 crore of the incentive awards earmarked for coaches.
In contrast, only 15 players, which included 10 judokas, were present from a list that crossed the 100 mark. The players, calculated to receive only about Rs. 2 crore in all, as the cash awards had already been presented for the medal winners of the Commonwealth and Asian Games, were understandably busy with their preparations and competitions at the national and international level.
The Union Sports Minister, Ajay Maken, who revealed that about Rs. 40 crore had been disbursed over the last two years, apologised for keeping some of the awards pending for about two years. He promised that the cash incentives would be presented in two instalments every year henceforth, preferably on fixed dates.
The minister also assured the coaches, who have been working with athletes from their childhood, that their contribution would be suitably rewarded in the same fashion as the coaches associated with the national teams in camps and international competitions.
Among the players, Pankaj Advani was set to receive Rs. 16 lakh, wrestler Sushil Kumar Rs. 13 lakh and shooter Tejaswini Sawant Rs. 10 lakh. Nine of the shooting coaches, headed by national coach Prof. Sunny Thomas who could not be present, were the envy of all as each of them got Rs. 11.96 lakh, while four others in the shotgun section received Rs. 9.25 lakh each.
Four wrestling coaches matched shooting coaches, as they pocketed Rs. 11.5 lakh each, while seven of the boxing coaches led by Dronacharya awardee Gurbax Singh Sandhu received Rs. 10.4 lakh each; six of the archery coaches, led by Limba Ram, received Rs. 7.6 lakh each.
Discus ace Krishna Poonia was present to shoot a photo of her husband Virender Poonia receiving the cheque for Rs. 13 lakh from the minister, for her gold medal in the Commonwealth Games and bronze in the Asian Games.
Hockey coaches Harendra Singh and Romeo James collected Rs.1 lakh each, for the Indian team's silver in the Commonwealth Games and bronze in the Asian Games. Six weightlifing coaches were awarded Rs. 6 lakh each. The cash awards for dope-tainted athletics coaches N. Ramesh and R.S. Sidhu were withheld.
Some of the coaches who had been called were not presented the cash awards, but the SAI officials assured that every deserving coach would get the award.
