Ex-Sports Minister Vijay Goel recommends Padma Shri for Kidambi Srikanth
Former Indian sports minister Vijay Goel has recommended Kidmabi Srikanth’s name for the Prestigious Padma Shri award for his fantastic run in 2017. In a calendar season, Srikanth became the first Indian and only the fourth shuttler in the world to win four Super Series tournaments.
With the help of the victory in French Open, Srikanth became the first Indian badminton player, male or female, to grab four Superseries titles in a single calendar year. This win also helped him reach a career-best second place in the BWF rankings. After his brilliant effort, ex-sports minister Goel, now parliamentary affairs minister, wrote a letter to home minister Rajnath Singh in which he recommended Srikanth for the country’s fourth highest civilian award. However, the deadline for Padma nominations had closed on the midnight of September 15.
"In this scenario, it is imperative to motivate the young sportsman by acknowledging his contribution to this sport in India," Goel wrote in his letter as quoted by PTI.
"He is an idol for the youth of the country and millions of people have aspirations to see his achievements being recognised. Many people have approached me in the capacity of ex-Sports Minister to recommend his name for this year's Padma Shri award. Accordingly, in the spirit of reflecting the aspiration of people of India, I recommendÂ
Srikanth continued his brilliant journey in the Superseries events as he defeated Japan's Kenta Nishimoto 21-14, 21-13 in the French Open final to became the first Indian player to win four Superseries titles in a year. He also became the first Indian to win the French Open title.Â
In 2017, he reached the final of the Singapore Open and later bagged the Indonesian Open and Australian Open titles. And then he created history by registering back-to-back wins at Denmark Open and the French Open.
Srikanth is not the only sportsperson who has been recommended for Padma awards. Women shuttler PV Sindhu and former cricket skipper MS Dhoni have been recommended for the Padma Bhushan. Nitten Kirtane, the former tennis national champion has also sent his application.