Malappuram: Former Asian high jump champion and Olympian Bobby Aloysius will be conferred the coveted Dhyan Chand Award, the country's sporting honour for lifetime achievement, at last.
Though her name was recommended a number of times earlier for the Arjuna Award, she missed out each time, despite being an Asian champion and the national record holder for 17 long years.
The forty-four-year-old, who moved into coaching after announcing her retirement, said she was overwhelmed by this belated recognition.
“I had been waiting for this moment. I always felt deeply hurt when I was ignored, but I had not given up all hope. Getting myself featured in the Dhyan Chand award nomination list is deeply touching and rewarding,” Bobby, who had applied for the honour ever since the Dhyan Chand Award was instituted in 2002, said.
For years, brightest young talents in high jump have been dubbed the ‘next Bobby Aloysius’, but it is a tragedy that an athlete of her calibre has been recognised so late.
The lanky athlete, who represented the country in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, brought home several international medals including a gold in the 2000 Asian Championships in Jakarta. However, when it came to Arjuna Award, Bobby found her achievements short of impressing those who prepare the list of awardees, year after year.
In 2000, spoiling her chances, the Athletics Federation of India decided against recommending anyone for the Arjuna Award after controversy erupted over the selection of winners and the entire process got mired in a legal dispute. In 2002, she pushed her case with a creditable silver medal at the 2002 Busan Asian Games, but the prestigious award went to the gold medal winners of the continental event.
Though she bid goodbye to the jumping pit following the 2004 Athens Olympics, the national record of 1.91m she set in 1995 stood unchallenged for 17 years until Sahana Kumari bettered the mark in 2012.
