Kolkata: The rising Sun of February 10 saw Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti felicitating extraordinary sports persons and coaches of the state, including Kuldeep Handoo, who is a national chief coach of Wushu, according to PTI. The awards were presented on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of 27th Senior National Tennis Ball Cricket Championship, consisting of mementos and cash rewards of Rs 50,000,
In gymnastics category, the award was given to Palak Kour Bijral of Jammu. She has represented the state in various national championships from 2004 to 2017, earning13 gold, 19 silver and 8 bronze medals and also participated in 20th Commonwealth Games held in Scotland in 2014. She represented India at the 6th Asian Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship held at Tashkent (Uzbekistan) in 2013. Bijral has also participated in 4th Children of Asia International Games held at Yakutsk (Russia) from in 2008.
In the gymnastics coach category, Mehbooba awarded S P Singh, who represented the country as coach/official 10 times in international competitions between 2004 and 2012. He also has the distinction of coaching more than 50 trainees who have bagged more than 50 medals in national and international championships.
Rajinder Singh from Samba in Wushu sports was also honoured. In 2016, he won the Silver medal in 9th Asian Wushu Championship at Taipie, China. In 2015, he represented the country in 5th Pars Cup Wushu Championship held in Tehran, Iran and bagged the third position. Singh has also won gold at the national level.
Handoo, who as a police officer and a national chief coach of the game, has bagged the Gold medal at national and international levels, was also felicitated. As Mufti admired the hard work of coaches in polishing the skills of trainees, she felicitated Shotu Lal for helping and assisting his trainees get about 130 medals in national and international competitions as a fencing instructor.
The Chief Minister also presented a memento to Ian Dev Singh, who is the captain of the state cricket team. She said the government will make use of all possessions and resources to groom young sports persons of the state.