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Indian badminton great Pullela Gopichand felicitates sports achievers at SJAN awards in Nagpur

Kishor Bagde, Sandeep Dhabekar, T V Raman Murthy, Arun Lakhani, Nitin Tatiya and Pullela Gopichand lightning the lamp at the 'GH Raisoni-SJAN Achievers Awards' held at Hotel Tuli Imperial, Nagpur


Kishor Bagde (President, SJAN) at the 'GH Raisoni-SJAN Achievers Awards' held at Hotel Tuli Imperial, Nagpur


TV Raman Murthy (DGM, Bank of Maharashtra), Arun Lakhani and Nitin Tatiya felicitating Pullela Gopichand at the 'GH Raisoni-SJAN Achievers Awards' held at Hotel Tuli Imperial, Nagpur


Pullela Gopichand addressing the audience at the 'GH Raisoni-SJAN Achievers Awards' held at Hotel Tuli Imperial, Nagpur


Arun Lakhani and Pullela Gopichand at the 'GH Raisoni-SJAN Achievers Awards' held at Hotel Tuli Imperial, Nagpur


Anup Deshmukh receiving the award on behalf of Swapnil Dhopade (Best senior sportsman in chess) from Pullela Gopichand at the 'GH Raisoni-SJAN Achievers Awards' held at Hotel Tuli Imperial, Nagpur


Dhanashri Lekurwale (Best senior sportswoman in Yoga) receiving the award from Pullela Gopichand at the 'GH Raisoni-SJAN Achievers Awards' held at Hotel Tuli Imperial, Nagpur


Aditya Thakre (Best junior sportsperson in cricket) receiving the award from Pullela Gopichand at the 'GH Raisoni-SJAN Achievers Awards' held at Hotel Tuli Imperial, Nagpur


Ritika Thaker (Best junior female sportsperson in badminton) receiving the award from Pullela Gopichand at the 'GH Raisoni-SJAN Achievers Awards' held at Hotel Tuli Imperial, Nagpur


Vice Principal of Dr Ambedkar College, Arvind Joshi (Best sports organiser) receiving the award from Pullela Gopichand at the 'GH Raisoni-SJAN Achievers Awards' held at Hotel Tuli Imperial, Nagpur


Representatives from Ramdeobaba College Of Engineering & Management (Best college in sports promotion) receiving the award from Pullela Gopichand at the 'GH Raisoni-SJAN Achievers Awards' held at Hotel Tuli Imperial, Nagpur


Representatives from Delhi Public School, Kamptee (Best school in sports promotion) receiving the award from Pullela Gopichand at the 'GH Raisoni-SJAN Achievers Awards' held at Hotel Tuli Imperial, Nagpur


Pullela Gopichand and others pose with the awardees at the 'GH Raisoni-SJAN Achievers Awards' held at Hotel Tuli Imperial, Nagpur

Sports JournalistsAssociation of Nagpur (SJAN) today held its Annual Sports Award Function – ‘G H Raisoni – SJAN Achievers Awards’ at Hotel Tuli Imperial to felicitate sports achievers from Nagpur.
Former badminton player and the Chief National coach for Indian badminton team, Pullela Gopichand was present at the function to hand over the awards to the winners. The winners were chosen by the SJAN constituted selection committee which did a thorough research of the performances of an individual and institutions before selecting the awardees of this year.
Check mate!
Twenty six years old Swapnil Dhopade was presented with the GH Raisoni trophy for being the ‘Best senior sportsman’ in chess. An year ago, Swapnil became the first Grandmaster from Vidarbha region. Swapnil who’s an employee of the Central Railway, won the International Open Chess tournament in Malaysia last month. Anup Deshmukh, Swanil’s coach and mentor since childhood received the award on Swapnil’s behalf.
Glorifying the ancient Indian practice
The GH Raisoni trophy for the ‘Best senior sportswoman’ went to Dhanashri Lekurwale for her achievements in Yoga. Dhanashri has dominated the national as well as international Yoga meets in the last half decade. In 2015, Dhanashri won two gold and three silver medals at the 24th Amateur World Yoga Sports Championship held at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In 2016, she won a silver medal (Rhythmic Yoga) and a bronze medal (Yogasana) at the 6th Asian Yoga Sports Championship at Hanoi, Vietnam.
Bowling his way to hearts
The GH Raisoni trophy for the ‘Best junior sportsperson’ in the field of cricket went to Aditya Thakre. Playing in the under-19 category, Aditya, a right-arm pacer took 34 wickets in six matches at an impressive average of 10.64 and economy of 2.28! Aditya finished the season as the third highest wicket-taker in the country after the league phase. He played an important role in Vidarbhas twin victories over Odisha and Madhya Pradesh. He was also picked in the senior team for the All India Karnataka State Cricket Association tournament this August. Former Rajasthan captain and Central Zone Zonal Academy coach P Krishna Kumar, in the past, has compared Aditya to Australian cricketer Glenn McGrath because of his accuracy.
Badminton champ
It must have been a dream come true for Ritika Thaker as she received the Baidhyanath trophy for the ‘Best junior female sportsperson’ in the field of badminton from the hands of none other than the Indian badminton great – Pullela Gopichand. Ritika represented India in the Junior Asian Badminton Championship 2014 in Bangkok becoming the youngest girl from the city to represent the country at the age of 13! Ritika, now a Standard X student of Chandra Devi Saraf School, won the international junior under-17 girls singles title in Israel this year. She also helped Nagpur district team emerge as the champion in the junior under-17 and under-19 state team titles in Nashik this year.
Make it big, step by step
The Meeradevi trophy for the ‘Best sports organiser’ went to Arvind Joshi, Vice Principal, Dr Ambedkar College, Nagpur. Arvind Joshi has worked tirelessly for developing sports infrastructure at his college. Dr Ambedkar College has one of the best cricket grounds in Nagpur. Dr Ambedkar College Sports Academy (DACSA), founded by Joshi in 2000, has won many trophies across various sports disciplines. Last year, the DACSA age group cricket teams emerged champions in almost all the tournaments held in city. Apart from cricket, the DACSA also boasts of strong teams in table tennis, hockey and archery.
Promoting sports as a culture
The KC Bajaj trophy for the ‘Best college in sports promotion’ went to Ramdeobaba College Of Engineering & Management (RCOEM). Despite the pressure of a demanding academic calendar, RCOEM students have put up a commendable performance in sports over the last couple of years. They are the reigning Mens Nagpur University Inter-College Basketball Champions. In fact, they have been winning the title for last three years now. The RCOEM Women hoopsters too aren’t far behind. They have been runners-up in the Nagpur University Inter-College Basketball Championship since the last two years. RCOEM students have also performed well in the table tennis, chess and other sports too.
The Centre Point School trophy for the ‘Best school in sports promotion’ went to Delhi Public School (DPS), Kamptee. In a short span of time DPS has emerged as a sporting powerhouse among the city schools. DPS under-17 girls emerged as divisional football champions recently. In the DSO Athletic meet, DPS students achieved a top-two finish in close to 15 events. Darsh Jain of DPS secured second place in the under-8 age category in the recently held Mayors Cup Maharashtra State Amateur Chess Championship. DPS tennis player PVVS Basanth Pedapeti has qualified for the Inter-School State-Level meet from Nagpur Division.
Photos by: Suyash Sethiya
Sports
Virat Kohli complains of losing his unboxed phone in Nagpur
Former Indian skipper Virat Kohli took to twitter to inform netizens that he had lost his brand new unboxed phone in Nagpur on Tuesday. Kohli, who is in the city for first test against Australia on Thursday, said, “Nothing beats the sad feeling of losing your new phone without even unboxing it Has anyone seen it?”
Nothing beats the sad feeling of losing your new phone without even unboxing it ☹️ Has anyone seen it?
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) February 7, 2023
Food delivery app Zomato was quick to respond by asking the ace cricketer to ‘feel free to order an ice cream from his wife and actor Anushka Sharma’s phone.’ The tweet read, “feel free to order ice cream from bhabhi’s phone if that will help.” However, many users anticipated Kohli’s tweet to be an advertisement for a brand.
feel free to order ice cream from bhabhi's phone if that will help 😇
— zomato (@zomato) February 7, 2023
Also read: Anil Deshmukh granted permission to travel outside Mumbai
Legal
Anil Deshmukh granted permission to travel outside Mumbai

Ex-Home Ministe Anil Deshmukh on Monday was granted permission to travel outside Mumbai for four weeks by a special court on Monday.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former Home Minister of Maharashtra Anil Deshmukh on Monday was granted permission to travel outside Mumbai for four weeks by a special court on Monday. Deshmukh had sought permission to visit his constituency, which is also his hometown, Nagpur.
The application was filed by Deshmukh through his lawyer, Inderpal Singh, stating that he is a native of Nagpur with deep family roots in the city apart from being an elected representative of his constituency.
“The applicant craves a benevolent indulgence of this court to permit him to travel outside Greater Mumbai, including District Nagpur, for a limited duration of about four weeks so as to maintain continuity in his social and family ties and also visit his original and permanent home/constituency,” the plea stated.
The plea further added that “the applicant needs to have due legal consultation with his lawyers in New Delhi for further course of strategy in the present and connected cases.”
Also read: All 31 days in January 2023 in Nagpur observed to be polluted, reveals study
Governance
Interesting facts you didn’t know about Union Budget | Must Read
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her fifth straight Union Budget when she presented financial statements and tax proposals for fiscal year 2023-24.
Here are some lesser known facts about Union Budget…
The British government presented India’s first ever Union Budget on April 7, 1860.
The first budget of independent India was presented by country’s first Finance Minister RK Shanmukham Chetty on November 26, 1947.
Even though traditionally, the finance ministers present the budget, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi are the only Prime Ministers to have presented the Union Budget instead of Finance Ministers.
Until 1955, the Union Budget was presented in English. However, the Congress government then decided to print the Budget papers in both Hindi and English.
In 2019, Sitharaman became the second woman to table the budget after Indira Gandhi who presented the budget for the year 1970-71.
Earlier, the government tabled the rail budget separately for 92 years but since 2017, the rail budget was merged with the Union Budget.
Until 1999, the government tabled the Union Budget at 5 pm on the last working day of February as per British era practice but
former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha changed the timing to 11 am. Years after, late Finance Minister Arun Jaitely changed the budget presentation to February 1.
There’s a customary event called the ‘halwa ceremony’ that is held every year ahead of the Union Budget. It is considered as a gesture of appreciation for all people who have worked on the Union Budget.
To ensure the secrecy of the budget document, a lock-in process is followed – in which all the officials involved
in preparing the Budget come out of Parliament’s North Block only after the Finance Minister has presented the budget.
In 2021, Sitharaman became the first to table paperless Union Budget.
Former Prime Minister Moraraji Desai holds the record of presenting 10 budgets as finance minister, which is the maximum so far.
Also read: Not a populist but a fiscal consolidation budget: CAMIT Chief Dr Dipen Agrawal
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