At Padma awards, hockey star matches B’wood biggies

NEW DELHI: Rashtrapati Bhavan’s Ashoka Hall broke into an enthusiastic applause as Virendra Sehwag rose on Wednesday evening, just hours before his IPL match, to receive the Padma Shri. And it appeared that sports had clearly stolen a march over Bollywood with badminton ace Saina Nehwal and hockey player Ignace Tirkey given a rousing hand comparable to the appreciation bestowed by the august crowd to film stars like Aamir Khan and music maestro A R Rahman.

While Sehwag and Khan left immediately after the ceremony, Nehwal, in a pink and blue salwar-kameez, stopped to sign autographs. “Fantastic and a bit odd” was her reaction when asked how it felt to receive the Padma Shri. When asked if she felt pressure to perform better, Nehwal said with an impish grin, “I have been winning after the award was announced. I think it’s a lucky charm.”

Rehman who was awarded the Padma Bhushan by President Pratibha Patil said he was happy and deeply honoured.

Amongst the other awardees were Nobel laureate of Indian origin Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and noted theatre personality Ebrahim Alkazi who were conferred the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award.

Other prominent awardees were classical vocalist Pandit Channulal Mishra, prominent hotelier Capt C P Krishnan Nair, founder chairman of Apollo Hospitals Pratap Chandra Reddy, businesswoman Anu Aga, former CBI director D R Karthikeyan, plant scientist Palpu Pushpangadan and eye surgeon Vikas Mahatme.

Among the Padma Bhushan awardees this year are eminent neurosurgeon Satya Paul Agarwal and eminent cardiac surgeon Ramakant Panda, who performed ‘beating heart’ on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last year. Former vice-chancellor of Goa University P R Dubhashi for civil service, Prof Tan Chung and Prof A J Paulraj received the award in literature and education and science and engineering categories, respectively. Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen and S K Bandyopadhyay received Padma Bhushan in the public affairs category.