Veteran athletics coach Joginder Singh Saini has been named for the prestigious Dhronacharya Award and 21 sportspersons, including cricketers Ajay Jadeja and Saurav Ganguly have been selected for the Arjuna Award for 1997, it was officially announced here today.

The President will gave away the awards at a special function to be held at the Rashtrapathi Bhavan on August 29.

The 25-year-old Tendulkar, who is arguably the world's best batsman, will receive a cheque for Rs. one lakh, a scroll of honour and a plaque.

Tendulkar, who is already the joint record holder formost number of one-day centuries and became the second youngest India captain in 1996, is the fifth recipient of the award instituted in 1991-92.

Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand was the first winner followed by former world billiards champion Geet Sethi ('92-93), sailors Homi D Motivala and PushpendraK Garg ('93-94), top woman weightlifter Karnam Malleswari ('94-95) and tennis star Leander Paes ('96-97).

Joginder Singh Saini is the 13th recipient of the coveted award which carries a purse of Rs. 75,000, Dhronacharya's statuette and a scroll. A respected coach of long standing and chief national coach till a couple of years back, Saini is the fourth athletic coach after OM Nambiar (1985), Ilyas Babar (1994) and Karan Singh (1995) to be honoured.

Those selected for Arjuna Award are Reeth Abraham (athletics), Ashok Shandilya (billiards), Ajay Jadeja, Saurav Ganguly (both cricket), Brahmanand Shankhwalkar (football), Harmeet Kahlon (golf), Harmik Singh, Surinder Singh Sodhi (both hockey), Randhir Singh (kabaddi), Satendra Kumar, Shilpi Singh (both shooting), Misha Grewal (squash), Chetan P Baboor (table tennis), Asif Ismail (Tennis), Neelamsetti Lakshmi, Paramjit Sharma (both weightlifting), Jagdish Singh, Sanjay Kumar (both wrestling).

M Mahadeva (athletics and cricket) and Naresh Kumar sharma(shooting) who overcame their physical disabilities to excel in their respective fields receive the Arjuna Awards in the physically handicapped category.

Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar have bagged the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy for the 13th time. GNDU will collect a cash award of Rs. one lakh and a trophy and its replica.

Punjab Univeristy (Chandigarh) and Delhi University have won the second and third positions and will be presented with Rs. 50,000 and Rs. 25,000 respectively.