'Hopefully Start Of Many Such Things In Sports' : Irfan Pathan On Renaming The Khel Ratna Award

Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan was satisfied at the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award being renamed as the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. Irfan Pathan also did not veer away from remarking that sports stadiums need to be named after renowned sports personalities instead of political people. Irfan Pathan retired from international cricket in January 2020.

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When the Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad got renamed to Narendra Modi Stadium, several social media users expressed concerns. In fact, there are plenty of stadiums named after the political leaders in India. They include the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, and MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

Former India Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru also have ten prominent stadiums named after them. Recently, we also saw the Feroz Shah Kotla ground in Delhi renamed after the late Arun Jaitley.

Hopefully in the future sports stadium names will be after sportsmen too: Irfan Pathan

Irfan Pathan stated he thoroughly welcomes the move of sports awards naming after sports personalities and hopes it’s the start of something new. The former left-arm swing bowler took a jibe at the government, wanting to see stadiums being named after sports icons as well.

“Absolutely welcome this move. Sportsman getting recognition and award being named after him or her. Hopefully start of many such things in sports (…) Hopefully in the future sports stadium names will be after sportsmen too,” Pathan tweeted.

Hopefully in the future sports stadium names will be after sportsmen too.

— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) August 6, 2021