Bangalore, Aug 29: Mangalore based Olympian Sahana Kumari was selected for Ekalavya award along with Olympian S V Sunil, Paralympics gold medalist H N Girisha and other 14 athletes by the Youth Empowerment and Sports Department.
The awards will be given away by the chief minister at the Vidhana Soudha on Thursday, to coincide with the National Sports Day.
Announcing the list of awardees, YESD minister Abhay Jain also said four coaches will be honoured with the lifetime achievement award.
High jumper Sahana and ace hockey striker Sunil were a part of the Indian contingent at the 2012 London Games.
Renowned swimming coach Nihar Ameen who has shaped the careers of many international swimmers including Olympians Shikha Tandon, Virdhawal Khade and Sandeep Sejwal is among the four to be chosen for the lifetime achievement award.
The Ekalavya award carries a cash prize of Rs.2 lakh, while the lifetime achievement awardees will take home a purse of Rs. 1.5 lakh.
On the occasion, the minister also announced the institution of the Karnataka Kreeda Ratna awards which will be given away to rural athletes starting next year.
The department has marked out 11 sports which are predominantly popular in the rural area and 10 athletes will be conferred with the awards each year.
The minister also stated that efforts are on to secure a job for Girisha and talks were on with various departments including KSRTC and the forest department to help the 2012 Paralympics high jump champion.
List of awardees:
Ekalavya: Sahana Kumar (athletics), Girisha H.N (Paralympics), Karuna Jain (cricket), S.V Sunil (hockey), Varsha S. Puranik (roller skating), Arjun j.P (swimming), Shwetha Naidu (kabbadi), Ajai Apachu (equestrian), Aditya Prakash (badminton), Sharan (shooting), Rohini H (volleyball), Mahadeb K (ball badminton), Binitha Devi (weightlifting), Sridhar N. Savanur (cycling), Sagarika shyam (basketball), Preetam Chougle (body building), Sanjana Srinivas (skating).
Lifetime achievement: Anitha M.Nimbargi (cycling), Manohar S.Katake (hockey), Ramesh Tikaram (badminton), Nihar Ameen (swimming).
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