Express News Service

CHENNAI: The stage is set for the first virtual national awards ceremony post lockdown amid the COVID-19. The National Sports Awards ceremony will take place on-camera with President Ram Nath Kovind conferring the awards from Rashtrapati Bhavan on August 29. 

There are 11 centres, mostly Sports Authority of India (SAI) across the country that will be hosting athletes, coaches and other awardees. Most of the athletes are on their way to these centres for a dress rehearsal on Wednesday.

 Separate time slots have been allotted to awardees for rehearsal. Para-athlete T Mariyappan and women’s hockey captain Rani Rampal who have been conferred the Khel Ratna will attend the event from Bengaluru. 

Another Khel Ratna winner, paddler Manika Batra, will be attending at Pune, while wrestler Vinesh Phogat would be at the Sonepat SAI centre. Other centres are Delhi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Itanagar (adventure awards) and Hyderabad. With 11 (Arjuna, Dronacharya and Dhyan Chand Awardees), Delhi will host a maximum number of athletes followed by nine in Chandigarh.

Woman pugilist Lovlina Borgohain, who is at Patiala, will be travelling to the Chandigarh National Informatics Centre for the rehearsal before the ceremony. 

Boxing coach Shiv Singh, who will be conferred Dronacharya in lifetime category, too will attend the function in the city. Luger Shiva Keshavan will travel to Delhi from Manali. Interestingly, while shuttler
Chirag Shetty is attending the function from Mumbai, his doubles partner Satwiksairaj Rankireddy might give it a miss.

Wrestler Rahul Aware, who is undergoing police training in Nashik, will attend the rehearsal and function in Pune. As reported by this newspaper, the event will be broadcast live with sports ministry officials attending from a centre in New Delhi, while athletes, coaches and other awardees will be at different centres.

The event will be hosted in collaboration with NIC and will be aired live on Doordarshan. It is learnt that their blazers and trophies have already been sent to the centres where the athletes will collect.