Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 16: Navjot Singh today became the youngest athlete of the State to be conferred with the Sher-i-Kashmir Sports Award.
Navjot received the award at an impressive investiture ceremony hosted after a gap of 22 years.
The 16-year-old, who was adjudged the best sportsperson for 2008-09, got the award in recognition of his impressive outing at the 9th Sub Jr National Aerobic Gymnastics at Rajkot in 2007 where he won a silver medal.
The high, though, came for the youngster in the following year when he bagged a couple of gold medals at the same venue during the Sub Junior Nationals.
The Sher-e-Kashmir Best Sports Awards were presented to the 34 outstanding sports persons by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who is also the president of the J&K State Sports Council during investiture ceremony, which was held at General Zorawar Singh Auditorium, University of Jammu, here today.
Sonia Sharma, Harleen Singh, Sonal Gupta, Kamal Singh, Seema Mehra, Palak Kour, Tejpal Kour, Manvinder Singh, Manpreet Kour, Mitali, Mayank Jain and Jaskaran Singh were the other gymnasts who were awarded on the occasion.
The athletes from other disciplines who got the award include Tashi Thinles, Arif Mohammad Khan, Sakina Bashir, Amandeep Singh, Raahil Farooq Shah, Mehjabeena Akhtar and Shoiab Zahoor Mir, all for skiing.
Footballers Mehraj-ud-Din Wadoo, Ishfaq Ahmad, Arun Malhotra, Jonny Kumar, fencers Rashid Ahmad Choudhary and Ujjwal Gupta, apart from Judokas Bhanu Pratap and Nippu Jamwal also bagged the Sher-i-Kashmir prestigious Award.
Kuldzeep Handoo (Wushu), Rita Devi (Handball), Younus Nazi Kochey (Snooker), Bilquis Mir (Kayaking), Mohammad Ali (Taekwondo) and Kuldip Kumar Gupta (Tug-of-War) were among others, who were awarded on the occasion.
They were awarded with citation, certificate, medal and cash award of Rs 25,000.
During the investiture ceremony, Minister for Youth Services and Sports, Taj Mohi-ud-Din, Member Legislative Assembly (MLA), Ashok Khajuria, Vice Chancellor Jammu University, Prof Mohan Pal Singh Ishar, Director General Prisons, K Rajindra, Commissioner Secretary, Youth Services and Sports, Shaleen Kabra, Secretary, J&K Sports Council, Dilip Thusoo were also present.
At the end, Sidharth Sharma, Joint Secretary, J&K State Sports Council, presented vote of thanks.
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