A gift from the Gandhis awaits rural athletes

BENGALURU: The cash prize of Rs 5 lakh to be given posthumously to athletics coach Ramakrishnan Gandhi along with the Dronacharya award will be ploughed back into the sport, his family has said. Gandhi, a committed and popular Sports Authority of India coach who mentored race walkers including Asian champion Gurmeet Singh, Baljinder Singh and Olympian KT Irfan amongst others, passed away last year, leaving his family and the sports fraternity in shock.His name was recommended for the honour on Saturday.
Known for his zeal for athletics, Gandhi was keen on winning an Olympic medal for the country and start an academy to train rural athletes at the grassroots, who he felt were generally hard done by lack of encouragement and funds despite being talented. His family feels they would 'immortalise' Gandhi's name by instituting an award in his name.
“Last evening, when we were informed that my husband had got the award my children and I decided that we will dedicate the entire amount to athletics in his memory. But we are not sure how to go about it, whether to use it for a race walking event or institute an annual award for promising coaches or athletes. I will discuss this further with sports officials and others before deciding on what to do and how to sustain our initiative in the long run,” Gandhi's wife Sailaxmi told TOI.
Describing the days after Gandhi's death as difficult, Sailaxmi, an additional professor and head of the department of nursing in Nimhans, said the family decided to apply for the Dronacharya after stumbling upon a few documents about the award at home last year.
“I was in a state of shock.It was then that my children, who were going through his files, came across his application. Obviously, my husband had applied for the award a couple of years back. My children said we should apply again for daddy's sake. It also kept us occupied and helped us emerge from our grief,” she said.
By December last year, the family got in touch with Gandhi's trainees, including Gurmeet, Irfan and others, to update the Dronacharya documents and his achievements. “We also approached Karnataka Athletics Association secretary Chandrashekar Rai who was very helpful. SAI and the sports ministry officials too backed us as we applied for the award,” she said.
Admitting that it would be an emotional moment on August 29--National Sports Day--when the family would receive the award on Gandhi's behalf, Sailaxmi said: “We will be in New Delhi for the function if we are called. I will carry my husband's photo with me. He has to be with us during that momentous occasion. I want everyone to know who he is and how dedicated he was to athletics.”