BANGALORE: The Karnataka Olympic Association will honour 22 athletes, coaches and sports journalists at its annual awards function to be held at Yavanika on Thursday.
The awardees include G.M. Aishwarya, Kenneth Powell (athletics), Sonamdeep Kaur (basketball), V. Tejeswini, A. Sandeep, V.S. Vinaya and Hari Prasad (hockey), Aditya Prakash (badminton), U. Vimal Kumar (badminton) and Ahmed Khan (football), besides sports journalist H.K. Vishwanath of Samyukta Karnataka and Samson Victor, sports photographer of Deccan Herald. The award carries a memento, citation and a cheque for Rs. 10,000.
Besides the sportspersons, children who were the winners of KOA’s on-the-spot painting competition during the Beijing Olympics will also be felicitated.

Announcing the list, KOA president K. Govindaraj said Vijender Singh and Sushil Kumar who won medals at the Beijing Olympics, had been invited and would also be honoured.
Financial help

He said the KOA would also financially help sportspersons in need and make a grant of Rs. 25,000 to State associations which conduct National events.

He said that any sportsperson, who wishes to train abroad, if recommended by his respective association, would also receive a grant from KOA.

Mr. Govindaraj said that the much-postponed National Youth Games was likely to be held in Bangalore early next year, subject to clearance from the IOA. He said the KOA would also conduct the State Games in November and December at Raichur and Bellary.

In a gesture to the bereaved family of sports scribe D. Ravishankar of the The Hindu who passed away last Saturday, the KOA President announced a grant of Rs. 20,000. A minute’s silence was also observed in memory of the sports writer before the media meet.

The KOA awardees list: G.M. Aishwarya (athletics), Aditya R. Prakash (badminton), Sonamdeep Kaur (basketball), Lakka B. Kurani (cycling), N. Geetha (fencing), B. Prakash (football), V.S.Vinaya, G.M. Hari Prasad (hockey), T.S. Kaveramma (women’s hockey), J. Harish (kabaddi), C.R. Santosh (kho-kho), M.P. Shashikiran (shooting), V. Tejaswini and N.A. Sandeep (swimming), Suma M. Hegde (volleyball), Chandrappa Kurani (cycling coach), Ahmed Khan (Olympian footballer), U. Vimal Kumar (badminton Olympian), Kenneth Powell (Olympian athlete), H.K.Vishwanth (Sports journalist) and Samson Victor (Sports photographer).