President Kovind awarded coveted MAKA trophy to GNDU
Gurpreet kaur/ royalpatiala.in/ Amritsar
The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind today presented the coveted “Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy” (MAKA) to the Guru Nanak Dev University for its all round best performance in sports for the year 2017-18 in an investiture ceremony held at Ashoka Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhawan this evening. The University received this for a record of 23rd times.
Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Jaspal Singh Sandhu and Dr. Sukhdev Singh, Director Sports of the University received this trophy. The replica of trophy and award money of Rs. 10 lakh was also presented to the University by the President for the promotion and development of sports. Before the presentation of award, a citation was also read out depicting the commendable sports achievements of the University. Deputy Director Kanwar Mandeep Singh and former Director Dr. Kanwaljit Singh were also present.
The University won this trophy for a record number of 23rd times, with overall top performing University in International / National / Inter-University Championships,from the President emerging again as the ‘top university in sports’ of India after the gap of six years with the able guidance of Vice Chancellor Prof. Sandhu. It is pertinent to say that Guru Nanak Dev University has produced 6 Padmashree Awardees, 33 Arjuna Awardees, 2 Dronacharya Awardees and 44 Maharaja Ranjit Singh Awardees.
Guru Nanak Dev University topped amongst 609 universities and has secured 107745 points and won the MAKA Trophy. Punjabi University Patiala stood second with a total of 88840 points and Panjab University Chandigarh stood third placed with 71712 points.
This trophy was instituted in 1956-57 as a running trophy by the Ministry of Education, Government of India in the name of first Union Education Minister, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and is awarded by the President of India each year to a University which has all round best performance in sports at inter-university, national and international competitions.
Prof. Sandhu said that this great honour is not only for Guru Nanak Dev University alone, but it is also for the whole of Punjab. He, on this occasion, also congratulated sports personal, affiliated colleges, their principals, faculty, coaches, students and the University Sports Department for their sincere contribution.
