TWO-TIME Asian Games bronze medalist shuttler Pradeep Gandhe has been selected for the prestigious Dhyanchand Award for his devoted services to the sport. The national awards will be conferred upon current, former players, coaches and organisers on National Sports Day (August 29).

 

The Sports Ministry has decided to give the awards virtually due to coronavirus pandemic. Dhyanchand Lifetime Award is given to sportspersons for their yeomen service to sports over the years.The recognition to Gandhe was due for some time and some of the biggest names in the sport had recommended his name for the award.

 

All England champion Pullela Gopichand, P V Sindhu, U Vimal Kumar, London Olympics quarterfinalist P Kashyap all have recommended 2020 Dhyanchand Award for Gandhe In an article published in SPORTSTAR, the shuttlers said, “Gandhe truly deserves the award in recognition of his (Gandhe’s) outstanding contribution as a player, coach and official in the Badminton Association of India (BAI) in different capacities.” Maharashtra Badminton Association Vice-President Gandhe, a former Nagpurian and now settled in Mumbai, is a former student of Visvesvaraya National Institute ofTechnology (VNIT), formerly Visvesvaraya Regional College of Engineering, Nagpur (VRCE).

 

He won bronze medals in 1982 Asian Games held in New Delhi. Partnering with Leroy D’Souza Gandhe clinched the bronze medal in doubles category and then went on to win another gold when India won the team championship title. He was also part of the Indian badminton team that participated in the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Australia where he reached quarter-finals. In 1975, Gandhe won the all-India ranking men’s doubles title in Jaipur.

 

Gandhe was a contemporary to some big names like Prakash Padukone, Syed Modi, Partho Ganguly, Leroy D’Souza to name a few and had carved a niche for himself. He had won gold medal in doubles category in 1978 nationals partnering with Sanjay Sharma. He clinched another yellow metal with Uday Pawar in 1982 nationals and then won the mixed doubles gold in 1984 with Ami Ghiya.

 

Gandhe promoted the shuttle sport in the State. He was president of MBA for three terms (2006-2018) during which he helped badminton in Maharashtra rise to a higher level. Gandhe was instrumental in helping Nagpur University team win gold medal in the All India Inter-University Competition in late 70s when they defeated mighty Bombay (now Mumbai) University. The Nagpur team comprised Sushila Sarvate (Amravati), Thyagrajan, Sharad Mahajan, Mohini Jadhav and Jeena Chanchughar-Shah. Gandhe was conferred with Maharashtra Government’s Shiv Chhatrapati award in 1976-77.