For his contributions to the sport of wrestling, Pavan Kumar Sharma was awarded lifetime achievement award for the year 2016-17 at a function organised by the Sports directorate here on the occasion of birth anniversaries of MK Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri on Tuesday. Cash awards were also presented to players who had participated or won medals in international competitions during calendar year 2016 and their coaches.
Addressing the gathering on the occasion the State Sports minister Arvind Pandey spoke on the lives of Gandhi and Shastri. He also presented the lifetime achievement award to Sharma. He was presented with Rs 5 lakh, a blazer and shawl. Later, a sum of about Rs 50 lakh in total was presented to 37 players who had participated/won medals in international level competitions along with 15 coaches/officials.
Further, the fees of 29 students of sports college, Dehradun, was waived off for their commendable performance in national and international level competitions. Three students of the sports college who had played as part of the Indian team in the 46th Asian school football competition were also presented mementos on the occasion.
The local MLA Umesh Sharma, sports director Pratap Singh Shah, joint director Dharmendra Bhatt and other officials along with players were also present on the occasion.