Rani Laxmi Bai award mired in controversy
LUCKNOW: The state government’s Laxman and Rani Laxmi Bai awards were marred in controversy after the name of country’s ace 400m runner Priyanka Panwar was allegedly dropped at the last minute.
Priyanka’s name was cleared by the award committee last week but on Monday it was not on the list of 11 sportspersons, who would be awarded by chief minister Yogi Adityanath on the occasion of National Sports Day on Tuesday at 4.00 p.m.
“Her (Priyanka’s) name was there as we had cleared her for the award. She had a yellow medal at the SAF Games but was denied a place in the Rio Olympics Games after she was tested positive for use of banned drugs,” UP Olympic Association’s secretary Anandeshwar Pandey told HT on Monday.
“It’s true that her dope issue was discussed at the meeting of the selection panel and a clarification from the Athletics Federation of India was also taken on the issue,” said Pandey, adding, “I don’t know what happened to her eligibility after the committee’s meeting.”
It is learnt that UP Athletics Association had raised an objection over the name of Priyanka, who hails from Meerut, for being considered for the state award. “Though she is not banned by the AAFI, she is dope-tainted and is not entitled for any award pending inquiry,” an UPAA official told HT on condition of anonymity. UPAA’s secretary-general PK Srivastava refused to comment on Priyanka’s claim for the state award but confirmed that athletics body didn’t recommend any name for the award.
The awardees will be given Rs 3.11 lakh each, a statue of Lord Laxman or Rani Laxmi Bai and a citation.
Rahul Chaudhary (kabbadi), Saneesh Mani Mishra (soft tennis), Siddarth Verma (gymnastics), Danish Mujtaba (hockey) and Mohd Asab (shooting) will be given Laxman award for 2016-17.
Manjula Pathak (handball), Sushila Pawar (weightlifting), Shreya Singh (taekwondo), Shreya Kumar (soft tennis), Gargi Yadav (wrestling) and Preeti Gupta (kho-kho) will receive the Rani Laxmi Bai award. Former Indian hockey captain Rajneesh Kumar Mishra has been chosen for the Laxman award in the veterans’ category while Ranjana (hockey) and Anshu Dalal (judo) have been picked for the Rani Laxmi Bai award in the veterans’ category.
On the occasion, Rs 1 lakh each will be given to Indu Gupta, Sristi Agarwal, Manjula Pathak and Sachin Kumar Bhardwaj who won gold medals at the 12th South Asian Games-2016 along with wushu exponent Uchit Sharma, who will receive Rs 3 lakh for individual gold at the SA Games. Announcing the list of awardees, director (sports) RP Singh said women cricketers Poonam Yadav and Deepti Sharma, who were part of the second-placed Indian team at the recently held Women’s World Cup, would be presented Rs 8 lakh each, besides Rs 10 lakh to one Suhas LY, who won a gold at the International Para Badminton Championship in Turkey.