GoSports Foundation announces PACE Scholars 2012

GoSports Foundation announces PACE Scholars 2012 After weeks of rigorous screening, GoSports Foundation has selected 21 athletes who will receive the PACE Scholarships for 2012 Bangalore, 11th February, 2012:After several rounds of intense selection processes to pick 21 athletes from among more than 150 applicants, GoSports Foundation has announced the winners of PACE Scholarships in seven categories: Table Tennis, Badminton, Sailing, Swimming, other Olympic sports and Paralympic disciplines. These Scholarships have been instituted to support the Olympic aspirations of the next generation of Indian sporting stars aged between 13 and 21. The list of 21 winners was drawn after a rigorous selection process that included physical assessments conducted by some of the best fitness experts. This was followed by skills assessment specific to each sport, personality assessment tests and personal interviews conducted by a panel of experts that included sports fitness expert Shayamal Vallabhjee, sports psychologist Mr. Bhishmaraj Bam, sports Lawyer and Managing Trustee of GoSports Foundation Nandan Kamath, and Trustee of GoSports Foundation Abhishek Laxminarayan. GoSports Foundation has put in place a methodical selection process to ensure that the most deserving athletes receive support to realize their Olympic dreams. The winners of the PACE Scholarships for Badminton are: H S Prannoy, Sameer Verma and Shikha Rajesh Gautam. The winners of the swimming scholarships are Gagan A P Ullalmath, Supriya Mondal and Mohammed Yaqoob Saleem, while Sharmada Balu, Nikshep B R and Suraj Prabodh have won the tennis Scholarships. Harmeet Desai, Soumyajit Ghosh and G Sathiyan were awarded the table tennis scholarships, while K C Ganapathy, Aishwarya Chezhiyan and Varsha Gautham were awarded the Scholarships for sailing. Ashish Kumar (Gymnastics), Rani Rampal (Women's Hockey), Kidambi Srikanth (Badminton), PC Thulasi (Badminton) are the scholars who were awarded the scholarship under the other Olympic sports category, while Sharath Gayakwad (Swimming) and Rajni Jha (Swimming) are the athletes who have received the PACE Scholarships in the Paralympic disciplines category. The PACE Scholarships for table tennis are sponsored by the Nandi Housing while Inlaks Foundation is sponsoring the PACE Scholarships for Badminton. Tandem Allied Services has sponsored the PACE Swimming Scholarships and Syed Ahmed Memorial Charitable has sponsored the PACE Scholarships for Paralympic sportspersons. Speaking about the PACE Scholarships, sports scientist Shayamal Vallabhjee who was part of the selection process said, "I am very proud to be backing this process because I believe that sport can change the moral fibre of the nation and organisations such as the GoSports Foundation and the PACE Scholarship programmes can act as catalysts for this change." Sports psychologist and member of the PACE Scholarships panel of experts, Mr. Bhishmaraj Bam, opined, "The PACE Scholarship is a brilliant concept and the best part about it is the stringent selection process. It is very important to establish relationships with the athletes and make them part of the team. Their aspirations need to be clear and high commitment leads to good results. With PACE Scholarships, the athletes will get access to the best knowledge, training and experts. This will go a long way in improving the standards of sport itself." Elaborating on the rigorous selection process that has been praised by experts, Managing Trustee of GoSports Foundation, Mr. Nandan Kamath said, "We have given every applicant a chance to display their talents before we selected the winners. While each one of our short-listed candidates had their own strengths, and have excelled in their individual sport, we have had to choose the 21 athletes based on merit and need being a significant factor." With its focus on providing support to young athletes, GoSports Foundation is intent on bringing about a positive change in the sporting eco-system in India. Parents and Recipients of PACE Scholarships for 2012  Inlaks Foundation PACE Badminton Scholars: H S Prannoy (19 years) Youth Olympics, 2010 (Singapore): Silver Medal Senior Ranking Tournament 2010 (Bangalore): Winner Sameer Verma (17 years) Youth Commonwealth Games, 2011: Runner-up Asian Badminton Championships, 2011: Runner-up Shikha Rajesh Gautam (13 years) All India Sub-Junior Badminton Championships, 2011: Runner-up All India Junior Badminton Championships, 2011: Runner-up Tandem Allied Services PACE Swimming Scholars: Gagan A P Ullalmath (20 years) Singapore National Championships, June 2011: 800m Freestyle Silver; 4x100m Freestyle Bronze and 1500m Freestyle Gold Asian Group Championships, Oct 2011 (Indonesia): 1500m Freestyle Silver; 800m Freestyle Silver; 4x200m Freestyle Relay Gold Supriya Mondal (16 years) Junior Nationals, 2010: 50m Butterfly Silver, 100m Butterfly Silver, 200m Butterfly Gold and 400m Individual Medley Bronze Junior Nationals, 2011: 50m Butterfly Silver, 100m Butterfly Gold, and 200m Butterfly Gold Mohammed Yaqoob Saleem (13 years) Junior Nationals, 2010: 200m Freestyle Gold and 100m Freestyle Silver Junior Nationals, 2011: 200m Freestyle 4th position; 400m Freestyle Silver; 800m Freestyle Silver and 1500m Freestyle Silver Rohan Bopanna PACE Tennis Scholars Sharmada Balu (18 years) ITF Pro-Circuit $10,000 Women's Tournament, 2011 (Lucknow): Winner Circuit Absolute de la FCT, 2011 (Barcelona): Winner Nikshep B R (14 years) Asian Series, 2011 (Hyderabad): Winner Singles (U 14) Asian Series, 2011 (Pune) Singles and Doubles Winner (U14) Suraj Prabodh (17 years) Wearhouse Cup (Bangalore): Winner (U 16) Andulana Cup (Mysore): Winner (U 18) Nandi Housing PACE Table Tennis Scholars: Harmeet Desai (18 years) Australian Open, 2011: Singles Gold US Open, 2011 (Milwaukee): Singles Gold Indian Junior Open: National Champion Soumyajit Ghosh (18 years) Chile Open, 2011: Singles Gold Medal Indian Junior Open, 2011: Singles Gold Medal G Sathiyan (19 years) South Asian Junior Championships, 2010: Gold Medal in Singles, Doubles and Team events Asian Junior Championships, 2010 (Bangkok): Bronze Medal in Singles and Team events Syed Ahmed Memorial Charitable Trust Differently Abled PACE Scholars Sharath Gayakwad (20 years) Swimming First Indian swimmer to achieve the qualifying time for London Paralympics, 2012 Asian record holder in his category in 2 events - 50m Butterfly, 50m Breaststroke Rajni Jha (22 years) Swimming Nationals: 50m Freestyle Gold Nationals: 50m Backstroke Gold Sailing PACE Scholars KC Ganapathy (17 years) Asian Games, 2010 (China): 6th position India International Regatta, Oct 2011: 2nd position (U-19) Aishwarya Chezhiyan (16 years) India International Regatta, Oct 2011: Overall Champion in the 29er class open category Inland Laser 4.7 National Championships, 2010: Gold Medal (U-16) Varsha Gautham (14 years) Laser 4.7 Coastal Nationals, 2011: Gold Medal (U-16) Asian Junior Championships, 2010 (Bangkok): Bronze Medal in Singles and Team events Other Olympic Sports PACE Scholars Ashish Kumar (21 Years) Gymnastics 2010 Commonwealth Games: Won 1 Gold, 1 Silver and 2 Bronze Asian Games, 2010 (China): Won 1 Gold and 1 Silver Medal Rani Rampal (17 Years) Women's Hockey Only Indian to be nominated for the coveted FIH Women's Young Player of the Year Award, 2010 Women's Hockey World Cup, 2010 (Argentina) : Awarded the 'Best Young Player of the Tournament' Kidambi Srikanth (18 Years) Badminton Youth Common Wealth; Silver Medal in Mixed Doubles and Bronze Medal in Doubles Junior International Ranking; Winner in Singles and Doubles PC Thulasi (20 Years) Badminton NSCI All India Senior Ranking Tournament, 2011; Winner in Singles Youth Common Wealth Games, 2008; Winner in Doubles For More Information: Nayantara Pani nayantara@playright.in +91 9739 36 35 29