Roger Binny’s all-round legacy gets its due at BCCI Awards |
Bengaluru-based Roger Michael Humphrey Binny, who was conferred the CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement award recently, gave up hockey and athletics to focus his energies on cricket
India all-rounder Roger Binny during India’s victorious 1983 World Cup campaign in England. PIC/GETTY IMAGES
Another edition of the BCCI Awards is over and done with. Going by social media posts from the television rights holders (the BCCI no longer invites the media) it’s getting grander by the year.
This year, Rahul Dravid was conferred the CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement award along with 1983 World Cup-winning team member Roger Binny. Mithali Raj earned a lifetime honour in the women’s section.
A lot is known about the feats of Dravid and Mithali Raj, but Binny’s sporting career is less publicised. How many of us know that the handsome Anglo-Indian chose cricket over hockey and athletics? In the early 1970s, he broke the javelin record with 45.80 metres; the difference between the former record holder and Binny being 5.50 metres at the All India Open Athletic Meet in Coimbatore. He also excelled in discus throw. On the hockey field, he was, according to Sportsweek magazine’s (June 2, 1974) Spotlight on Youth column, “a very reliable and almost unbeatable right-back”. He’s a keen golfer as well.
On Sunday night, Binny acknowledged his coaches,........