{"id":152341,"date":"2026-04-07T11:38:04","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T17:08:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/?p=152341"},"modified":"2026-04-07T11:38:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T17:08:04","slug":"tnsja-awards-2026-csks-mhatre-present-as-emerging-tn-sportspersons-honoured-at-chepauk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/?p=152341","title":{"rendered":"TNSJA Awards 2026: CSK\u2019s Mhatre present as emerging TN sportspersons honoured at Chepauk"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"content-body-70835654\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">Ten budding sportspersons were presented with \u20b950,000 each at the Chennai Super Kings-Tamil Nadu Sports Journalists\u2019 Association Scholarships 2025-26 held with the support of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Chess prodigies \u2014 the eight-year-old Tamizh Amudhan (the only under-9 player in the world rated above 2000 Elo) and nine-year-old R. Aaranya (Asian youth champion) \u2014 were the youngest beneficiaries this year.<\/p>\n<p>Among those present were CSK\u2019s Wholetime Director Rupa Gurunath, CEO K.S. Viswanathan, India under-19 World Cup-winning captain and CSK batter Ayush Mhatre, gold medal-winning hockey Olympic skipper V. Bhaskaran, and table tennis legend Achanta Sharath Kamal.<\/p>\n<div class=\"inline_embed article-block-item\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pqRlN0-0f2s?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The other prominent sportspersons were veteran volleyball player Mohan. Ukkrapandian, former India U-19 cricket captain M. Senthilnathan, former TN cricketer S. Sharath (BCCI junior selection committee chairman), and India footballer R. Sandhiya.<\/p>\n<p>TNCA president T.J. Srinivasa Raj, secretary U. Bhagwandas Rao and Dr. R.N. Baba were also in attendance.<\/p>\n<p>Hailing the TNSJA\u2019s efforts, Rupa Gurunath promised to continue CSK\u2019s support for talented sportspersons.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s an honour to carry forward my father N. Srinivasan\u2019s legacy. He has always supported all sports, not just cricket.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI liked what was said earlier that this should not be your (athletes\u2019) destination, but a sign that you are on the right path. It\u2019s humbling to be here and share the stage with these young athletes. I\u2019m happy to be part of this and to continue supporting the association,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Viswanathan added: \u201cWe are contributing to a cause that is good for all sports. CSK is a franchise that doesn\u2019t focus only on cricket. It\u2019s a tradition set by N. Srinivasan, and we are following it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mhatre wished the award recipients the very best. \u201cI also began my cricketing journey at a young age. I can understand how this scholarship can motivate [the young sportspersons]. I appreciate TNSJA for doing this. All the best to the youngsters,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Bhaskaran was also full of praise, but he had a request: \u201cAppreciate TNSJA for wonderfully selecting these champions. I put my heart into it, and I ask you to make it much bigger. I wish every athlete a wonderful journey in the near future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sharath Kamal urged the young awardees to aim higher. \u201cFirstly, it\u2019s a fantastic event, getting to meet our fellow superstars in various sports and, at the same time, the young, talented crop of athletes. It\u2019s a great job, TNSJA.<\/p>\n<div class=\" article-picture center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ss-i.thgim.com\/public\/incoming\/hv7c7e\/article70835652.ece\/alternates\/FREE_1200\/DSC_5668.JPG\" data-original=\"https:\/\/ss-i.thgim.com\/public\/incoming\/hv7c7e\/article70835652.ece\/alternates\/FREE_1200\/DSC_5668.JPG\" alt=\"Hailing the TNSJA\u2019s efforts, Rupa Gurunath promised to continue CSK\u2019s support for talented sportspersons.\" title=\"Hailing the TNSJA\u2019s efforts, Rupa Gurunath promised to continue CSK\u2019s support for talented sportspersons.\" class=\" lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"pic-caption\"><figcaption class=\"figure-caption align-text-bottom\">\n<p> Hailing the TNSJA\u2019s efforts, Rupa Gurunath promised to continue CSK\u2019s support for talented sportspersons.<br \/>\n                                                            | Photo Credit:<br \/>\n                                R RAGU\n                            <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"caption-image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsss.thehindu.com\/theme\/images\/SSRX\/lightbox-info.svg\" alt=\"lightbox-info\"\/><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<p class=\"caption\">\n<p>                            Hailing the TNSJA\u2019s efforts, Rupa Gurunath promised to continue CSK\u2019s support for talented sportspersons.<br \/>\n                                                            | Photo Credit:<br \/>\n                                R RAGU\n                                                    <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cThe scholarship gives them the right motivation to go ahead. I wish I had this kind of support when I was young. It\u2019s good to see slowly, over time, the other sports having individual superstars,\u201d Sharath said.<\/p>\n<p>Thanking the TNSJA, former scholarship recipient and former India swimmer A.V. Jayaveena spoke about the profound impact it had on her early sporting journey.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is something that I deeply value. When I think of it today, I realise how much this recognition and scholarship meant to me at that point in time. Yes, it gave confidence, belief, and, very importantly, a sense that I was on the right path. Thank you so much, TNSJA, for doing that and for bringing in that culture of encouragement,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Jayaveena left the young athletes with an impactful piece of advice: \u201cTo all the awardees, please make sure this recognition is not the destination, but a very humble beginning. Make sure this fuels the hunger, discipline, and passion you have for the sport\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"publish-time\" id=\"end-of-article\">Published on Apr 07, 2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/sportstar.thehindu.com\/other-sports\/tamil-nadu-sports-journalists-association-awards-scholarships-50000-list-of-awardees-2026-ayush-mhatre-csk-support\/article70835654.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ten budding sportspersons were presented with \u20b950,000 each at the Chennai Super Kings-Tamil Nadu Sports Journalists\u2019 Association Scholarships 2025-26 held with the support of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Tuesday. Chess prodigies \u2014 the eight-year-old Tamizh Amudhan (the only under-9 player in the world rated above 2000 Elo) and&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":152342,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-152341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/DSC_5785.JPG","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgnRh4-DD7","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=152341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/152342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=152341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=152341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=152341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}