20 July: Flying Sikh’ Milkha Singh will chair the 15-member expert committee which would decide winners of the Arjuna and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awards, while tennis legend Ramanathan Krishnan heads the panel that would pick the Dronacharya awardee for the year 2007.
The panel headed by Milkha Singh will select the awardees for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, country’s highest sports honour, Arjuna Awards 2007 and Dhyanchand Awards for Lifetime Achievements in Sports and Games, 2008.
Other members of the committee include Zafar Iqbal (hockey), M D Valsamma (athletics), P Gopichand (badminton), Khazan Singh (swimming), Baichung Bhutia (football), Gundappa Viswanath (cricket), Pargat Singh (hockey) and Sayan Chatterjee (Director General, SAI).
The other committee set up to select awardees for the Dronacharya Award 2007 include Shiny Wilson (athletics), Dilip Tirkey (hockey), Limba Ram (archery), Jyotirmoyee Sikder (athletics), Syed Naeemuddin (football).
Sports Minister MS Gill said it was now upto the committee members to reward the best.
"My job is to appoint the best possible committees of men and women of worth and of high integrity. I have done my best. Now it is for the committees to choose those who are most deserving," he said in a statement.
Committee for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, Arjuna Awards 2007 and Dhyanchand Awards: Milkha Singh (Chairman), Zafar Iqbal, M D Valsamma, P Gopichand, Khazan Singh, Naresh Kumar, Bhuvaneshwari Kumari, Baichung Bhutia, G R Vishwanath, Saley Joseph, N Srinivasan, Pargat Singh, Sayan Chatterjee, I Srinivas, Joe Sebastian (Secretary).
Expert Committee for Dronacharya Award: Ramanathan Krishnan (Chairman), Shiny Wilson, Dilip Tirkey, Limba Ram, Jyotirmoyee Sikder, Rupa Saini, Syed Naeemuddin, R D Singh, Sukhchain Singh Cheema, O P Bharadwaj, Dr Kamaljit Singh, Zoliama Royte, Sayan Chatterjee, I Srinivas, Joe Sebastian (Secretary).Courtesy DD NEWS