Nisha, Gopichand draw loudest applause

Champion swimmer Nisha Millet and badminton ace Pullela Gopichand were the toast of the Arjuna awards presentation ceremony in Delhi on Tuesday.

At a simple ceremony at the Ashoka Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan, which was conspicuous by the absence of the Sydney-bound awardees who are busy preparing for the Olympic Games, Nisha and Gopichand drew the loudest applause as they received their awards.

Andal Amma, mother of mercurial centre-forward Dhanraj Pillay, received the highest sports award - - the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna - - on behalf of her son.

The frail-looking lady stood still as Dhanraj's achievements were read out before accepting the medal and scroll of honour from President K R Narayanan.

Speaking to newsmen later, she said Dhanraj did not come because "he wanted to be focussed on his practise".

"He didn't want to be disturbed. His main aim is to win an Olympic medal, so he asked me to collect it," she added.

Pillay was India's captain of the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games gold medal-winning hockey team. The fist place ensured India a direct berth in the tournament at the Sydney Games.

With no cricketers nominated for the 1999 awards, players from other disciplines, especially Olympic sports, got due recognition.

Twice Asian Games gold medallist boxer Hawa Singh, who died earlier this month in Bhiwani, was missed. His wife Angoori Devi received his Dronacharya award.

Middle distance runner Sunita Rani, hoping to perform at the Olympics, was the only athlete present on the occasion as the other awardees - Gulab Chand and Gurmeet Kaur - are away in Jakarta for the ongoing Asian Track and Field Championships.

Ironically, Gulab Chand's name was not even called out as the distance runner failed to nominate someone to receive the award on his behalf.

Gulab Chand, who won silver in the 10,000 metres on the opening day of the championships in the Indonesian capital on Monday, will be conferred the award on his return.

Among the pugilists, Hawa Singh's protege, middleweight Jitender Kumar and teammate Gurcharan were present. Both pugilists along with Ng Dingko Singh and S Suresh, will leave for Sydney on September 2.

"I am eager to start the final training programme to tune well for the Games. We are going early to get acclimatised to the conditions," said Jitender Kumar.

"My target is to reach the medals bracket. It will be tough but I am ready for it," he said.

The boxers will be at a Sydney training camp from September 3 to 14.

After missing most of the season this year, Sunita Rani still made it to the Olympic squad and hopes to gain "good international exposure".

"I want to run on the Sydney track for the 1,500 metres and then set my sights on the 2004 Athens Olympic Games," Sunita said, allaying fears of her injury getting aggravated.