Manika Batra feels Guru Sandeep Gupta deserves Dronacharya Award

Manika Batra is of the opinion that her coach Sandeep Gupta has worked a lot towards the development of the table tennis players in India and he should get the Dronacharya Award for his contributions. Manika credited her recent success at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and Asian Games to coach Sandeep.

“Yes, I want that (Dronacharya Award) for him because he has worked so much with me and so many other players," Manika told TOI.

"He is working hard for everyone and for me too. So he should get the award for that. He deserves that and I am sure he is going to get it," she said.

Gupta often accompanies Manika to various international tournaments and was present at the Asian Games as India's table tennis coaching staff. He also travelled with Manika to the 2016 Rio Olympics, which was her debut at the prestigious event.

It has been decided that an 11-member committee will pick the Dronacharya and Dhyan Chand awardees with Justice Mukul Mudgal as its chairman. A special meeting for the discussion has been scheduled on September 16.

To prevent clash of dates with the Asian Games, the National Sports Award Ceremony has been rescheduled this year to September 25 instead of August 29, which is celebrated as the National Sports Day in India.