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NDTV honoured excellence in sports with the ‘Spirit of Sport’ awards to celebrate the success of the ‘Marks for Sports’ Campaign

New Delhi, February 5, 2012

In a Grand Finale, NDTV celebrated the success of the ‘Marks for Sports’ campaign with the ‘Spirit of Sport’ awards held at the ITC Maurya Sheraton today. As part of the celebration, NDTV acknowledged excellence in sports by honouring renowned sports personalities across 14 categories. Union Minister of HRD, Mr. Kapil Sibal graced the occasion as the Guest of Honour for the evening.

Highlighting the successful completion of the Marks for Sports campaign, Dr. Prannoy Roy, Chairman, NDTV, said, “I am delighted with the overwhelming response received for the campaign. I would like to thank Ranbir for his association with the initiative. I truly believe that we require youngsters like him to make this campaign a huge success.”

Supporting the cause, the Guest of Honour, Union Minister of HRD, Mr. Kapil Sibal, said, “I believe it’s a wonderful initiative by NDTV. We have to change the mindset of people and the change should begin from home; and then take it to the next level and change the mindset of teachers. I am very happy that Ranbir is associated with the campaign, because with support of youngsters like him it will reach the masses. ”

Celebrating the spirit of Marks for Sports, Campaign Ambassador and co-host for the awards, Ranbir Kapoor said, “The campaign needs the support of both men and women to make it a success. The role of the mother is extremely important as I strongly believe that women are the true achievers as they excel in everything they take up.”

The awards were presented by the Union Minister of HRD, Mr. Kapil Sibal and the Minister of State for Information and Technology Sachin Pilot and Leander Paes, ace Tennis player

The awards function was attended by Leander Paes, Rahul Bose, Milind Soman, Vijender Singh, Sunil Chhetri, Pankaj Advani, Jwala Gutta, Karun Chandok, Milkha Singh, Mary Kom, Vineet Joshi, Chairman, CBSE, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Chief Minister, Haryana and Dharmesh Jain, Chairman and Managing Director, Nirmal Lifestyle among other noted personalities.

The award ceremony was hosted by Campaign Ambassador, Ranbir Kapoor and NDTV’s anchor Sonali Chander. The highlights of the evening were music performance by the duo Salim-Suleiman and stand up comedy by Papa CJ.

Categories and Winners are as follows:

1. Legend Of Sport Award - Leander Paes

2. Lifetime Achievement Award - Late Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi and Baichung Bhutia

3. India's Outstanding Achievers (6 winners) - Vijender Singh, Sunil Chhetri, Karun Chandok, Pankaj Advani, Saina Nehwal and Mary Kom

4. Fit For Life Award – Fauja Singh

5. Best Fitness Activist Award – Rahul Bose and Milind Soman

6. Generation Next of Cricket – Virat Kohli

7. Rockstar Performer in 2011 (outside of cricket) (7 winners) - Dipika Pallikal, Ronjan Sodhi, Shiva Keshavan, Deepika Kumari, Vikas Krishnan, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa

8. Best Sports Advertisement – TATA Group

9. Against the Odds (Young Achievers) (4 winners) - Shubham Jaglan, Kokila, Arjun Vajpayee and Sagar Dhahiya

10. Against the Odds (Lifetime Achievement) – Mahantesh and Shiraz

11. Best Corporate involvement in sports – TATA and Mahindra Groups

12. Best State for Sports Promotion – Haryana

13. Best Promotion of Sports in Education (4 winners) - Magic Bus, Olympic Gold Quest, YUWA and EduSports

14. Fittest Bollywood Celebrity - Bipasha Basu

Launched as an initiative in 2011, the ‘NDTV-Nirmal Lifestyle Fit India’ campaign has today become a movement. The NDTV-Nirmal Lifestyle Fit India Movement is the first to create a nationwide fitness movement and in the first year of this campaign, it has created awareness about the importance of fitness in life, and the hope that Sports and Fitness will be included as a compulsory part of the school curriculum with the Marks for Sports Campaign. The campaign was supported by people such as Campaign Ambassador, Ranbir Kapoor, sports’ legends like Leander Paes, Vijender Singh, Gagan Narang, Baichung Bhutia and Pankaj Advani as well as the Late Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, along with various celebrities including Gul Panag, Rahul Bose and Milind Soman.

The year-long Marks for Sports campaign reached out to policy and decision makers across the country with a series of activities that included special televised debates and discussion programmes with the Campaign Ambassador, televised interactive ground activities with sportspersons and children and a signature drive asking for policy changes with pledges for donations and equipment. Also included was a school connect programme, to motivate and encourage students and their parent to accept Sports as part of the main curriculum. For more details log onto www.ndtv.com/marksforsports

About NDTV

NDTV Ltd, founded in 1988, is India's largest news and infotainment network. It is home to the country's best and brightest reporters, anchors, camerapersons and producers; 23 offices and studios across the country host India's most modern and sophisticated production, newsgathering and archiving facilities. NDTV has an unmatched track record of successfully launching both news and lifestyle channels; NDTV 24x7 is a clear leader in the English news segment; NDTV Profit, a 24-hour business plus channel, is India's number one business news channel; NDTV India is amongst the country's leading Hindi news channels; while NDTV Good Time straddles issues from health and holistic healing to fashion and food. NDTV is credited with pioneering several broadcasting and programming initiatives in Indian television and has expanded into one of the nation's biggest broadcasting houses by growing beyond news broadcasting and venturing into non news verticals. For more information visit www.ndtv.com

About Nirmal Lifestyle

Nirmal Lifestyle is a leading real estate company in India based in Mumbai, where it has been instrumental in developing Mulund as a preferred suburb of the city through its integrated development plan for the suburb that includes developing retail spaces, residential apartments, office spaces and luxury hotels. The company has an exclusive alliance with US Open (USTA) and Discovery to bring to India world class sporting facilities of international standards. It will also enter into alliances with four more global sports federations in the next three months which will enable the company to develop sports infrastructure and facilities. It also plans to bring global sports events to India through its exclusive partnership with these federations.

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