"Hopefully sports stadium names will be after sportsmen" - Irfan Pathan on the decision to rename Khel Ratna Award
Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan welcomed the move to rename the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award as the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. He did not shy away from sharing the hope that the stadiums would also be named after eminent sports personalities.
The remarks from Irfan Pathan can be construed as a dig at the tendency of naming sports stadiums after political dignitaries.
The 36-year-old also expressed optimism that the step by the Government will be the start of a new trend in sports.
“Absolutely welcome this move. Sportsman getting recognition and award being named after him or her. Hopefully start of many such things in sports (…) Hopefully in the future sports stadium names will be after sportsmen too,” Pathan tweeted.
There are several stadiums named after political leaders in India. This includes famous stadiums like the Wankhede (Mumbai), DY Patil Stadium (Navi Mumbai), M Chinnaswamy Stadium (Bengaluru) and MA Chidambaram Stadium (Chennai).
Former Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi together have ten prominent stadiums named after them. More recently, we have seen the Feroze Shah Kotla stadium renamed after the late Arun Jaitley, while the world’s largest cricket ground in Ahmedabad was named after Narendra Modi.
Former cricketers apart from Irfan Pathan also hailed move to rename the Khel Ratna Award
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced earlier today that the highest sporting honor in the country will be renamed after hockey legend Dhyan Chand. This move was welcomed by the cricket fraternity as well as the public in general.
Apart from Irfan Pathan, former Indian cricketers including Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir also hailed the decision made by the Government.
The announcement came shortly after the semifinal between the India women’s hockey team and Great Britain in the Olympics this morning (August 6).