Bindra, Humpy get Birla awards

Olympian Air Rifle shooter Abhinav Bindra and the country's youngest woman chess Grandmaster Koneru Humpy have been selected for the 10th K K Birla foundation awards for sports.

The 19-year-old Chandigarh-based shooter and 15-year-old Andhra Pradesh chess prodigy were on Monday named for the prestigious honour in recognition of their outstanding performances in 2000-21.

Abhinav and Koneru are the 22nd and 23rd recipients of the award, instituted in 1991, and will receives Rs 100,000 each.

Bindra broke the junior World record in Air Rifle shooting in Munich in July 2000, with a score of 596/600, which he went on to better in the same competition by scoring 597/600.

In European circuit championship, he won 12 medals, including six gold, and was the youngest shooter to have represented India in the Sydney Olympics.

Humpy started playing chess at the age of five. At the age of six, she won the Krishna district chess championship. In 2000, she won the Asian junior chess championship in Mumbai and followed it up with title wins at the British and Commonwealth championship. She won World (under-14), Junior World championship, and became India's youngest WGM last year with four world titles under her belt and a rating of 2484.

Among others who have won the award are Sachin Tendulkar, Kapil Dev, Anil Kumble, Vishwanathan Anand, Geet Sethi, Pulella Gopichand, Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Kunjarani Devi, Aparna Popat, Bahadur SIngh, Shiny Wilson, and Dhanraj Pillay.