THE WORLD PORTAL

ARJUNA AWARD WINNERS 2009

In India, there are many popular sports including Hockey, Cricket, Football, Boxing, Chess, Basketball, Tennis, Table Tennis, Badminton, Swimming, Volleyball, etc and also we got many famous sports personalities including Sachin Tendulkar, Viswanathan Annand, Sania Mirza, Saina Nehwal, May Kom etc. Indian Government gives an award titled “Arjuna award” every year to boost the performance of Indian sports persons. It is the award given to Indian sports persons for their outstanding performance in national and international sports and games. The Arjuna award for the year 2009 was announced. A large number of nominations were received for these awards in this year. Indian government approved the list of award persons by the recommendations of committee headed by Kum. Indu Puri and Shri G.S. Randhawa and scrutiny. The award winners are Mangal Singh Champia (archery), Sinimol Paulose (athletics), Saina Nehwal (badminton), L. Saritha Devi (boxing), Tania Sachdeva (chess), Gautam Gambhir (cricket), Ignatius Tirkey (hockey), Surinder Kaur (hockey), Pankaj Shirsat (kabaddi), B. Prabhu (physically challenged), Satish Joshi (rowing), Ranjan Sodhi (shooting), Poulami Ghatak (table tennis), Yogeshwar Dutt (wrestling), G.L. Yadav (yatching). The awardees will receive their awards from the President of India at a specially organized function at the Rashtrapati Bhawan on August 29, 2009.

ARJUNA AWARD

Arjuna award is India’s highest civilian honor for sportsmen. It was established in 1961 for Indian sports persons for their outstanding performance in Sports and Games in the Olympics, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, World Cup etc. This award carries a cash prize of Rs. 500,000, a bronze statuette of Arjuna and a citation. Now the guidelines of Arjuna award are revised. According to that guideline, a sportsman who could have good performance at the international level and also have shown qualities of leadership, sportsmanship and a sense of discipline is eligible for Arjuna award. In addition, the award is given to indigenous games and the physically handicapped category. The sports person who was banned by the International Olympic Committee  due to the usage of drugs is not eligible for Arjuna award. Ministry of youth affairs and sports from all recognized National Sports Federations recognized by the Government of India, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and State/UT Governments were nominated the sports person for this award. The winners will be decided by a selection committee containing a chairperson and 12 other members including 5 Olympians and 4 Arjuna Awardees from different disciplines, 2 Sports Administrators and a Member-Secretary. According to their decision, the winners will be selected and is given a bronze statuette of Arjuna, cash prize of 5 lakh rupees along with a citation. 15 Arjuna awards would be given in every year.

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER

Seven time formula one world champion and Ferrari adviser Michael Schumacher is to make a sensational comeback for Ferrari into F1 racing for the ‘2009 European Grand Prix’ as a replacement for injured Ferrari driver Felipe Massa. Schumacher was retired from race driving after the 2006 Formula One season. His comeback is on a temporary basis, and he will compete in the final seven races of the 2009 season. His achievements in F1 racing are excellent. He has seven F1 world titles along with 91 individual race victories in 250 Grand Prix races. In addition, he is the only German to win the Formula One World championship. People hope that this successful F1 driver is sure to make a big impact on his return.

BIOGRAPHY

Michael Schumacher was born on 3rd January, 1969 near Cologne, Germany as the son of a mason, Rolf and Elisabeth. His brother Ralf is also a Formula One driver. Their father ran a local kart track and four-year old Michael enjoyed playing on a pedal kart. Michael soon mastered his machine and won his first kart championship at the age of six. After that, the sponsorship from wealthy businessmen enabled Michael to make rapid progress. In 1987, he was German and European kart champion and in 1990, he won the German F3 championship and was employed by Mercedes to drive sports cars. In 1991, he made his entrance in Formula 1 racing by qualifying an astonishing seventh in a Jordan-Ford’s team for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa. After that, Schumacher was signed by ‘Benetton’ and in 1992, he won his first Formula One race at Spa. The next four seasons with Benetton, he won further 18 races and two world championships. In 1996, he was moved to ‘Scuderia Ferrari’ and won five consecutive drivers titles with them from 2000–2004. In 2002, he won 11 times and finished on the podium in all 17 races. In 2003, he broke Fangio’s record by winning his sixth driving title and in 2004, he won 13 of the 18 races to secure his seventh championship by a massive margin. In 2006, he finished his career with seven F1 world titles along with 91 individual race victories in 250 Grand Prix races. After his retirement, he worked as the advisor of Ferrari. In his career, his driving sometimes created controversy. He was twice involved in collisions that determined the result of the world championship, and he disqualified from the 1997 championship for causing a collision with Canadian racing driver  Jacques Villeneuve. He is known for his remarkably smooth driving style, his control on the track, and most notably his mastery of curves. He is married to Corinna Betsch and they have two children, Gina-Maria and Mick. He is also an ambassador for UNESCO and a spokesman for driver safety. He has been involved in numerous humanitarian efforts throughout his life and donated tens of millions of dollars to charity.

UPDATES

People were disappointed, because Michael Schumacher has canceled his plans to return to Formula One racing in ‘2009 European Grand Prix’ as a replacement for injured Ferrari driver Felipe Massa. Schumacher was not fitted enough to this race due to a neck injury which was happened in a motorcycle accident on a racetrack earlier in the year.