Master mariner

In recognition of his "exceptionally meritorious achievements” in the field of coaching, the Dronacharya Award for the year 2002 was conferred on Cdr Homi D. Motivala. Receiving the award on his behalf from President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam in New Delhi on August 29, 2003 was his wife Huzan Fraser Motivala, as Homi was away at Cadiz in Spain with the national yachting team.

With the conferring of the Drona­charya Award, Homi achieved the rare distinction of being the first Indian to have received India’s highest sports awards both as player and coach, says his mother Gool. World champion in Zimbabwe in the Enterprise class in 1992 and a bronze medallist at the Asian Games in 1990 and 1994 in China and Japan respectively, Motivala had been honored with the Arjuna Award in 1993 and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award the following year. Winning the Shaurya Award in 1983, Homi has received four awards at the hands of the President of India, says Huzan.

On behalf of Homi Motivala (right), wife Huzan receives the Dronacharya Award from President Abdul Kalam (top left)

After retiring from active sports, Homi has been training Indian yachtsmen since 1995, becoming national coach in 1999. In recent years, Indian yachtsmen have performed creditably at international level, with Farokh Tarapore and Vikas Kapila winning the world championship in the 420 class last year, Naresh Yadav and G. L. Yadav winning the bronze in the Enterprise class at the 2002 world championship and the Indian team picking up one silver and two bronze medals at the 2002 Asian Games at Busan in Korea, notes the Award citation.