Sporting legends and community achievers honoured at our Awards Ceremony

Tenth Annual Indian Newslink Sports, Community, Arts and Culture Awards sets milestones

Venkat Raman
Auckland, June 21, 2024

Sporting Legend Lesley Murdoch who brought fame to New Zealand as a Hockey and Cricket player and Malkiat Singh, the first Sikh to climb Mt Everest recently and 80 others were honoured at the Tenth Annual Indian Newslink Sports, Community, Arts and Culture Awards held on Monday, June 17, 2024 at Swaminarayan Complex in Papatoetoe.

Ms Murdoch continues her contributions to sports as the Chairman of the New Zealand Cricket Board and as a TV and Radio broadcaster. Mr Singh, a 53-year Aucklander, is an active member of the Sikh Community in New Zealand.

Among those honoured at the Ceremony were members of the Indian, Fiji Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan and Nepali origin, drawn from Hindu, Muslim, Christian and other faiths.

Ministers and other VIPs

Commerce and Consumer Affairs and Small Business Minister, Andrew Bayly, Climate Change and Revenue Minister Simon Watts, Leader of the Opposition Chris Hipkins and Auckland Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson were Special Guests of Honour at the event.

Among the Members of Parliament present were Rima Nakhle, Greg Fleming, Carlos Cheung, Nancy Lu (National Party), Tangi Utikere, Jenny Salesa, Arena Williams, Camilla Belich and Shanan Halbert (Labour Party), former Labour MPs Michael Wood and Vanushi Walters, former New Zealand First MP Mahesh Bindra, IAG (Insurance) Executive Manager Mark Irwin, former Deputy Commissioner of Police (Iwi and Communities( Wallace Haumaha), Superintendent of Police (Principal Advisor Ethnic) Rakesh Naidoo, community leaders Prithi Pal Singh, Lali Ranvir Singh, Daljit Singh, Tirath Atwal, Mohammed Tauqir Khan, Title Sponsors Raj Pardeep and Ashima Singh of Legal Associates, Dr Kantibhai and Ranjna Patel of Swaminarayan Temple and New Zealand Indian Central Association Narendra Bhana.

Messers Bayly, Watts and Hipkins paid tributes to the South Asian Communities including people of Indian, Fiji Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan and Nepali origin., saying that people from India, Fiji, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal are partners in the progress and development of New Zealand.

Tributes to South Asians

“Members of the Indian community are known for hard work and enterprise. They are law-abiding citizens and we are proud of their contributions to our economy. We look forward to greater connectivity with India and in this process, the engagement of the Indian Diaspora is important. Events such as the Annual Indian Newslink Sports, Community, Arts and Culture Awards are important because they recognise and applaud achievers in various fields. It is pleasing to note that these Awards are marking their tenth year,” they said.

Mr Bayly said that he works closely with the South Asian Communities including people of Indian, Fiji Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan and Nepali origin and that he was always impressed by their cultural heritage.

“We celebrate the achievements of so many people who generously give their time in the service of others,” he said.

Mr Watts outlined the efforts of his government to promote cultural and social diversity and inclusion through various programmes and projects.

Mr Hipkins said that the Labour Party has always been appreciative of the efforts of the Indian community as partners in New Zealand’s progress.

“As well as working hard in the manufacturing, retail and other industries and as professions, the Indian community has earned the respect of all New Zealanders. As the Leader of the Labour Party, I will continue to work with my Caucus colleagues and others to serve the interests of the Indian Diaspora,” he said.

Elite Awards (Sports)

A unique feature of the Indian Newslink Sports, Community, Arts and Culture Awards is the recognition of sportspeople of yesteryears who have brought fame to New Zealand scoring high national and international sports meets. These heroes of the community are chosen by Bhikhu Bhana, former President of the New Zealand Indian Central Association for a Special Honour in consultation with many others in the field.

Mr Bhana, who conducts the Sports Awards segment of the Awards said that the presence of Lesley Murdoch at the Ceremony was inspiring.

“Within the Indian community, more than 50 persons have represented New Zealand at the highest level. While the main sports are Hockey and Cricket, the range of sports is diverse, Windsurfing, Tao Kwan Deo, Boxing, Roller Hockey, Judo, Golf and Tennis. Although Cricket is a religion in India, the country’s National Sport is Hockey. Lesley has been a leading sporting personality and we are grateful that she has flown from Christchurch specially for this Awards function. As Indian Newslink marks its 25^th Anniversary and Tenth Annual Indian Newslink Sports, Community, Arts and Culture Awards, we acknowledge her achievements in Hockey and Cricket and her contributions in general to Sports,” he said.

Sporting heroes who were honoured at the Ceremony were Hus Bhikha and Bevan Hari for Hockey, Jeetan Patel for Cricket and Ajeet Rai for Tennis. A special video recording of their achievements (produced by Indian Newslink) was shown during this segment.

The Sports Awards segment comprised ten winners, 19 Special Commemoration Awardees, 27 men and women for their Community Service and 20 achievers in Non-Performing (Arts) and Performing Arts (Culture). The Awards were presented by Sponsors and other dignitaries.

Commemorative Awards

As a part of its dedication and respect to friends of the newspaper who have passed on and a part of recognising their own services to the community, Indian Newslink has instituted seven Special Commemoration Awards. The following were the winners on June 17, 2024:
Raman (Ray) Ranchhod Award: Presented to the Hindu Council of New Zealand for Services to the Hindu Community.
Wenceslaus Anthony Memorial Award: Frederic Susil Dass for Services to various Communities in New Zealand.
Dr Robert Khan (Senior) Memorial Award: Indian Cultural Society Waikato for Services to the Indian Community in Waikato.
Ravin Lal Memorial Award: Sasidharan Nambissan for Services to the Indian Community in Auckland.
Baljit Kaur Memorial Award: Khushi Sehajpal for impressive work in Brain Research.
NVR Swami Community Spirit Award: Presented to Kai from Sai (Meals with Love) for Services to Communities.

Our Working Group

Stutie Junoo Sharma and Karthikeyan RC were the Masters of Ceremonies.

Members of the Tenth Annual Indian Newslink Sports, Community, Arts and Culture Awards Working Group were Bhikhu Bhana, Daryll Garcia, Karthick RC, Kumuda Setty, Mallika Janakiraman, Nishi Ranathunga, Ramya Negi, Rashna Tata, Stutie Junoo Sharma, Suneel Kuncha and Viraf Todywalla.

Among the entertainers were Nishi Ranathunga and performers from The Wonder Girls, Abhinayaa Indian Dance Academy,  Monisha Kumar Dance Company and V4U Entertainments.

A separate writeup on the other winners and performers will appear shortly.

All photographs appearing in this article and on other platforms were taken for Indian Newslink by Narendra Bedekar of Creative Eye.