New Delhi: Young cueist Pankaj Advani, who has created ripples with his achievements on the green baize, was on Wednesday named for the country's highest sporting honour -- the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna -- for the year 2005.
The 20-year-old Commerce student from Bangalore created history by winning the World Billiards title at Qawra, Malta to become only the second Indian cueist to bag the coveted honour since Geet Sethi in 1992.
The list, announced by the government, surprisingly did not include any male cricketer as former women's captain Anju Jain was the only cricketer to figure among the Arjuna awardees.
Shooter Gagan Narang, star hockey player Viren Rasquinha, ace shuttler Aparna Popat, swimmer Shikha Tandon and paddler Soumyadeep Roy were among those who were named in 15-member list.
The Khel Ratna comprises a cash award of Rs 5 lakh, a scroll of honour while the Arjuna Award carries a purse of Rs 3 lakh, a statute and a scroll of honour.
The awards will be given away by the President APJ Abdul Kalam at the Rashtrapati Bhawan on August 29.
Uday Prabhu (athletics), Commander Nandy Singh (hockey) and Harish Chandra Birajdar were selected for the Dhyan Chand Award for the year 2006.
Coaches Captain M Venu (boxing), Balwan Singh (kabaddi), Maha Singh Rao (wrestling) and Ismail Baig (rowing) were named for the prestigeous Dronacharya awards for excellence in coaching.
The Selection Committee constituted under the Chairmanship of Raj Singh Dungarpur to decide the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award 2005, Arjuna Award 2005 and Dhyanchand Award - 2006, met on August 17 and considered all the nominations received from the agencies authorised under the provisions of the respective schemes.
On the basis of the detailed deliberations on each case, the Committee arrived at a consensus to decide the awardees.
Rahul Dravid was also supposed to be in contention for the Khel Ratna but a goof-up by the BCCI in submitting his nomination once again cost the Indian captain the honour.
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Advani takes special pride in claiming the world prize on the point-format in Malta before becoming the youngest player at 19 years to win the traditional time-format billiards crown.
Advani, who had won the 2003 IBSF World Snooker Championship title in China, became only the second cueist after Malta's Paul Mifsud to have won both the billiards and snooker amateur world titles.
Advani, who is playing the World Snooker Team championships in San Jose in the US, said he was "feeling ecstatic" about receiving the honour.
He said he also planned to make himself available for the award ceremony.
Woman cueists Anuja Thakur and archers Tarundeep Roy and Dola Banerjee were also named for the Arjuna awards.
Following is the list of award winners:
Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award: Pankaj Advani - Billiards & Snooker
Arjuna Awards: Tarundeep Rai – Archery, Dola Banerjee – Archery, Manjit Kaur – Athletics, Aparna Popat – Badminton, Anuja Prakash Thakur - Billiards & Snooker, Akhil Kumar – Boxing, Shri Surya Shekhar Ganguly – Chess, Anju Jain – Cricket, Viren Rasquinha – Hockey, Ramesh Kumar – Kabaddi, Gagan Narang – Shooting, Shikha Tandon – Swimming, Soumyadeep Roy - Table Tennis, Sushil Kumar – Wrestling, Rajinder Singh Rahelu – Javelin (Physically Handicapped).
Dhyan Chand Award: Uday K Prabhu – Athletics, Commander Nandy Singh – Hockey, Harish Chandra M Birajdar – Wrestling,
Dronacharya Award: Captain M Venu – Boxing, Balwan Singh – Kabaddi, Maha Singh Rao – Wrestling, Ismail Baig - Rowing.
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