Pain shapes a woman into a warrior and she is a warrior says Avneet’s father
By Amrit Pal Singh Brar
Bathinda, 22 July 2019: The Punjab State Target Shooter Association today condemned the Congress government for excluding the name of one of the country’s top shooter and Punjab’s first woman Olympian shooter Avneet Kaur Sidhu’s from the recommendations list being forwarded by the Punjab government to the central government for Padma awards. Avneet Kaur Sidhu is recipient of Arjuna Award and Maharaja Ranjit Singh Award.
Spokesperson of PSTSA Gaurav Sidhu said “It was painful that the sports personality who has brought the shooting sports into limelight in Punjab and considered as an icon in the state has been excluded from the recommendations list”. She is associated with the shooting sports since the last 19 years and has won around 100 medals in the International and National competitions”. She had won four Medals in 2017 in World Police and Fire Games at Los Angeles USA.
Gaurav Sidhu further said “She had won Gold medal and Silver Medal in Commonwealth Games besides other Medals in Asian Games and represented the country in the World Shooting Championship and 2008 Olympics Games held at Beijing”. It is an insult to the sports personality whose services are often utilised by the state government to promote its achievements, he said.
It may be recalled that Punjab government sports department has forwarded 11 names of the sportspersons to DSO’s vide their letter no sports/DA 4-19/ 10994 dated 15/07/2019 and asked the DSO’s to send citations of the 11 sportspersons excluding the name of Olympian Avneet Kaur Sidhu.
Commenting on this development Amrit Pal Singh father of Avneet Kaur Sidhu said “She has been deliberately excluded and victimised because she was appointed as Deputy Superintendent of Police by Parkash Singh Badal government”. We will not beg for any award, Pain shapes a woman into a warrior and she is a warrior.
Padma Awards the civilian Awards of the country are conferred in three categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. The Awards are given in various disciplines and fields of activities, viz.- art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, etc. ‘Padma Vibhushan’ is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service; ‘Padma Bhushan’ for distinguished service of high order and ‘Padma Shri’ for distinguished service in any field.
The awards are announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year.
