A five-star show!

Chief guest Khalid A-H Ansari (third from left) with recipients of the Sports Journalists’ Association of Mumbai’s Lifetime Achievement Awards— Adille Sumariwalla (extreme left), Sheila Kanungo, Diana Edulji, MM Somaya and Prof Ratnakar Shetty (right) on Thursday. Pic/Ashish Raje

It was an evening of sporting splendour at the Garware Club House in Churchgate as five city-based achievers across four disciplines were conferred Lifetime Achievement Awards by the Sports Journalists Association of Mumbai (SJAM) on Thursday.

Adille Sumariwalla (athletics), Diana Edulji (cricket), Sheila Kanungo (shooting), MM Somaya (hockey) and Prof Ratnakar Shetty (cricket administration) were recipients of the award previously given to badminton legend Nandu Natekar and cricket icon Sunil Gavaskar.

Also Read: T20 World Cup: Stand-by pacer Deepak Chahar ruled out

Accomplished journalist Khalid A-H Ansari, the chief guest enjoyed a close bond with Sumariwalla, since the present Athletics Federation of India (AFI) chief started pursuing his sprinting passion as a schoolboy. He also witnessed Sumariwalla's participation at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, where the Indian team with Somaya in their ranks, won the country's last hockey gold medal. Somaya came up with a fine way to describe Ansari's longevity as a sports journalist. "He covered nine Olympics while I went to three," said India's captain at the Seoul Games.

Remembering coaches

Somaya was grace personified as he accepted his award, remembering his coaches Owen Ferreira and Balkrishan Singh. Ditto his Mumbai teammates Mervyn Fernandis, Joaquim Carvalho and Marcellus Gomes.

Sumariwalla, while accepting how challenging things have become for the media today in the face of social media, wanted the older generation of writers to mentor the younger generation, a view echoed by Prof Shetty in his acceptance speech.

BCCI's contribution to sport

Shetty, who served the Mumbai Cricket Association as well as the BCCI was grateful to his mentors for his emergence and stressed that the BCCI, who are often criticised, have done a world of good for the sport in India. He cited Gavaskar's view that the age group tournaments the Board conducts has helped Indian cricket in no small measure.

Edulji, whose glittering career as a cricketer extended to her being a member of the Supreme Court-nominated Committee of Administrators (CoA) to run the BCCI a few years ago. She spoke about how her "friends" in the media would call her up even before she could disembark from her flight after attending CoA meetings. Kanungo spoke about how challenging it was to be accepted for the sport she chose to excel in with people associating guns with violence.

‘Shooting is charming'

"My sport is quite the contrary. It's a very charming beautiful sport and has nothing to do with violence except for the guns we shoot with," she said. While commending the SJFI for their initiative, Ansari urged the association to honour behind the scenes people like ground staff.

Also Read: Ganguly forced out of BCCI for not joining BJP: Supporters