Tamil Nadu Sports Journalists Association honoured former India skipper and selection committee chairman Kris Srikkanth with a ‘lifetime achievement’ award in the Green Valleys Shelters Private Limited-TNSJA award night here on Saturday.
Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and squash player and world number 13 Dipika Pallikal bagged the sportsperson of the year and sportswoman of the year awards while Tamil Nadu all-rounder Baba Aparajith was adjudged the young achiever of the year.
Though Ashwin couldn’t attend the event as Tamil Nadu is playing Odisha in a Ranji match in Cuttack, he thanked TNSJA over the phone. “It’s an honour to be adjudged the sportsperson of the year, and I would have definitely been there. I had in fact promised to be there. But now we are playing a match here in Cuttack, and obviously duty comes first,” he said.
Dipika, who has been riding a crest of wave since last year, said she was glad to receive the award and promised she would strive for more. “The city has encouraged and supported me a lot in achieving this level and I hope I would have reasons to make you happier,” she said.
With the vision to promote fledgling talent was formed the scholarship initiative to 10 deserving athletes, who were given a cash award of `25,000 apiece. They were K Premkumar and A. Suresh (athletics), S Karthikeyan (basketball), P Appu (boxing), J Saranya and M Mahalakshmi (chess), CA Bhavani Devi (fencing), U Jayakumar (football), P Dhamu (hockey) and C Jerome Vineeth (volleyball).
Among the attendees were a host of former and present athletes.