Venkat Raman
Fifty-four achievers in various fields of sports and community services were recognised at the Fifth Annual Indian Newslink Sports & Community Awards at a Gala dinner held in Auckland on Monday, October 8, 2018.
More than 500 people representing a cross-section of the Indian and other communities attended the event held at Alexandra Park in Greenlane.
The Awardees
Recipients of all Awards were based on nominations received from the public over a period of three months through advertisements published in Indian Newslink . While the Sports segment recognised six senior achievers in Hockey, Women’s Boxing, Cricket, Soccer and Rugby League, five of them chosen by the New Zealand Indian Central Association (NZICA) and one by Indian Newslink, nominations were received under eleven categories of Sports Awards.
Thirty-four men and women were recognised for the outstanding community services in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch. Among them were ten person who received ‘Special Commemoration Awards’ for their outstanding community work. Twenty-Four men and women received Awards for distinguished services to communities.
Title Sponsor
Rainbow Group of Companies, which runs Early Education Learning Centres in Auckland and Mumbai and many other commercial entities was the Title Sponsor of the Fifth Annual Indian Newslink Sports & Community Awards.
NZICA and the Telangana Association of New Zealand were the Support Sponsors respectively of the Sports and Community Awards.
Other Sponsors
Among the Category Sponsors of the Sports Awards were Bank of Baroda (NZ) Limited, Link 2 Services, Legal Associates Barristers & Solicitors, CFR Line Group, Lotus Foreign Exchange, Reliance Home Ventilation, Trophy Centre (Eden Terrace, Auckland). 0800Rachna, Immigration Advice New Zealand Limited and Radio Tarana.
Guests of Honour
National MP Judith Collins, Black Caps Opening Batsman Jeet Raval, Auckland Hockey Chief Executive Manoj Daji were among the Guests of Honour at the Awards Ceremony.
Michael Wood, Parliamentary Undersecretary for Ethnic Communities, MPs Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, Dr Parmjeet Parmar (National) and Priyanca Radhakrishnan (Labour) were among the other Guests of Honour at the event.
Book Release
Among the highlights of the evening was the release of a book ‘The Poverty of Economic Thinking’ by former UNIDO Advisor Dr Jebamalai Vinanchiarachi, who flew from Vienna specially for the occasion. Ms Collins received the first copy of the book, sponsored by Indian Newslink and dedicated to the memory of Wenceslaus Anthony, who passed away last year.
Mr Anthony was the Chairman of the Indian Newslink Community Fund. A separate report on the book will appear shortly.
Ms Collins, NZICA President Bhikhu Bhana, Telangana Association President Kalyan Rao Kasuganti and Awards Project Manager Ravi Nyayapati were among the speakers at the event.
Awards for Arts & Culture 2019
The growing talent in various fields among the Indian Diaspora in New Zealand has encouraged Indian Newslink to institute Arts & Culture Awards next year.
The Sixth Annual Indian Newslink Sports, Community, Arts & Culture Awards 2019 will be held in May or June next year. Nominations will be open in February 2019.
Details of these Awards will be published shortly.
Photo
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- Guests of Honour Judith Collins, Jeet Raval, Manoj Daji, Bhavini Doshii, Rrahul Dosshi and Bhikhu Bhana
- Jeet Raval speaking at the event
- Sneha Anthony presenting the ‘Wenceslaus Anthony Commemorative Community Award’ to Dr Jebamalai Vinanchiarachi watched by Kalyan Rao Kasuganti
- Artistes of Indiance performing a Bollywood number
- Kartika Singh performs a Latin American dance
