the goan I network
PANAJI
Goan all-rounder Shikha Pandey was presented with the Dilip Sardesai Sports Excellence award 2017-18 on the occasion of National Sports Day on Wednesday. The 29-year-old became the first cricketer to receive the award, which was instituted in the 2008-09 season.
Sports Minister Babu Azgaonkar presented the award, which constitutes a bust of the late cricketer Sardesai, rupees two lakh cheque and a citation; in the presence of WRD Minister Vinod Palyekar, wife of late Dilip Sardesai Prof. Nandini Sardesai, Director of Sports & Youth Affairs V M Prabhudesai and Arjuna Awardee Brahmanand Shankhwalkar.
Verem-based Shikha has become an integral part of Indian women’s cricket team having played 39 one-day internationals, 32 T20s and two Test matches picking up 77 wickets and scoring 589 runs across all three formats. Shikha will soon be seen on the field in the upcoming bilateral series between India and Sri Lanka.
Shikha, who is a squadron-leader with Indian Air Force based in Delhi, was delighted to receive the award. “Sir Dilip Sardesai was a legendary cricketer and to have my name mentioned in the same sentence, is a very big thing. I will never forget this evening,” said Shikha, while thanking the state government for conferring the award on to her and dedicating the award to her parents.
Born in Telangana and having moved to Goa as an eight-year-old to her Uttar Pradesh-origin parents, Shikha a comparatively late beginning in mainstream cricket aged 18. Nevertheless, Shikha worked very hard on the field while also being a studious and brilliant student in school as her father Subhas, teacher by profession, was ensuring that she never neglected her studies, revealed the fast-bowling all-rounder.
Shikha advised the youngsters to chase their dreams and give it their best effort. “Everyone has a dream, but I had two dreams. As a kid, I wanted to serve the nation in an uniform and also dawn the blue jersey. If you have it in you and even if you have two dreams, and ready to take on the challenges, there is nothing that is impossible,” revealed Shikha, who still has the dream to achieve and that is to win the World Cup as last year she fell agonisingly short of being world champion as India lost the finals to England.
Shikha thanked Goa for its support that has made this day possible for her. “The kind of outlook that people have here is awesome. There is no discrimination between whether it’s a girl or boy pursuing sports. They are very open. It’s only for Goa that Shikha Pandey is here,” expressed Shikha, while also thanking all her teachers, coaches, association and most importantly the team-mates.
Sports Minister Babu Azgaonkar praised Shikha and also hailed her parents for encourging their daughter to pursue her dream. He also expressed his happiness that another international cricketer has finally emerged from Goa, following into the footsteps of the legendary Dilip Sardessai, who was dubbed as the ‘Renaissance Man’ of Indian cricket after his stupendous success against the then mighty West Indies.
