COACH SUBODH DANKE FELICITATED BY KHAR GYMKHANA July 19, 2012 was meant to be a memorable day in the life of renowned swimming and water polo coach Subodh Danke who turned sixty on this day. To commemorate this auspicious occasion, which incidentally also coincided with coach Danke completing 30 glorious years in the service of Khar Gymkhana, a grand felicitation ceremony was organized in honour of Danke at the Presidential Hall of the Gymkhana. As a token of gratitude and acknowledgement and appreciation of Danke’s yeoman service to the Gymkhana in churning out National swimming champions and water polo stalwarts aplenty, he was presented with a purse of Rs 60,000/- and also bestowed upon the Honorary Life Membership of the prestigious club. The very special evening aptly described as ‘Ek Sham Danke Sir Ke Naam’ brought together a galaxy of champions from yesteryears who benefitted immensely from the Khar Gymkhana swimming training programme headed by coach Danke. A lot of effort went into the meticulous planning of the event. Invites were sent to all the swimmers and water polo players who excelled at the National level under Danke’s tutelage. All the important functionaries of the Club present and past made it a point to attend this wonderful evening. The current crop of trainees along with their parents mingled with the champs of a bygone era and the nostalgic evening ensured that bonhomie and good cheer was at its best. Some of the illustrious champs who graced the evening and made the momentous occasion a memorable one were Sonali Rege ( Khar Gym’s first Gold Medallist at the Senior Nationals), Kunal (Bobby) Nagarkatti (Water polo Gold Medallist in both the junior and senior nationals), Pratishwar Motwane, Rajiv Jain, Mahiar Mehta, Santosh Shah, Shailesh Dhairyawan, Samar Gupte, Madhavi and Nimay Ashar, Vandana and Vikram Mordani, Manek Bedi, Amit Butani, Aditya Mohandas, Loknath Char, Dhruv Rawat, Prateeksha Ahuja, Avinash Kriplani, Karan Nagpal, Priyanka Lalwani, Jay Devnani, Bibash Dasgupta and Sushant Divgikar. The evening opened with the felicitation of the 13 swimmers and the coaching staff of Khar Gymkhana who returned with a rich haul of 51 Medals from the recently concluded Age Group Nationals. Kunal Nagarkatti and Aditi Dhumatkar worthy protégés of coach Danke anchored the evening with consummate efficiency and kept the gathering enthralled with their sparkling wit and racy anecdotes, as well. All the speakers extolled Danke’s virtues as a coach par excellence and marveled at his commitment to his profession which to date remains undiminished. Coach Danke drew admiration from the speakers for his sense of loyalty to Khar Gymkhana, who in turn have been rock like in support of Danke through some very difficult times, when he met with two serious road accidents and his recent bout of health complications. Pradeep Divgikar, President of GMAAA and Danke’s dear friend for over 40 years reminisced Danke’s early years in the world of swimming and water polo and highlighted the special talents and skills that he possessed as a water polo player which were hitherto unknown to the vast majority of his current trainees. He also dwelled on Danke’s transformation into a Coach par excellence and the sustained success that he has achieved for over 25 consecutive years by producing a National Medallist each and every year of his illustrious coaching career. Sushant Divgikar, the Karaoke King of Mumbai (who was also trained by Danke in swimming), rendered the Grammy Award winning track ‘Footprints In The Sand’ as a dedication to Danke Sir. The dynamic and sports loving President of Khar Gymkhana, Mr Sham Shroff remarked that the Gymkhana was fortunate to have Danke as its Coach, while presenting the honorary life membership of the Gymkhana to him. Danke’s elder daughter Sangeeta addressed the gathering on behalf of the family and shared the perspective of Danke, the family man. A beautiful Audio Video presentation which had Danke’s protégés over the years sharing their experiences of training with him and the significant contribution that he has made in the all round development of their personalities was the highlight of the evening. Danke with his trade mark humility and modesty thanked the Khar Gymkhana for their unstinted support all through his coaching career, the swim parent fraternity of Khar Gym who at all times have treated him as extended family and made huge sacrifices while he was ill, and above all the extremely talented bunch of swimmers, he has been blessed with over the years, who compelled him to dedicate his life to the noble profession of teaching (coaching). A word of praise and a pat on the back is due for Minesh Babla ((Secretary - Swimming), Rajesh Mehta and Sanjay Devnani (Gen. Secretaries), all the office bearers and members of the Managing Committee of the Khar Gymkhana, Kunal Nagarkatti and Aditi Dhumatkar for organizing and putting together this memorable evening, where a great time was had by one and all.
Posted on: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 05:21:09 +0000