MUMBAI, Oct 31 (PTI): Performances by Bollywood stars dominated the function to honour sportspersons at the second Sahara Sports Awards function here last night but athletes too let their hair down, joining the movie stars on the stage to shake a leg with them.
Superstar Shahrukh Khan enthralled the gathering with his one-liners, Sania Mirza made debut as a compere while glamour girls Kareena Kapoor, Prachi Desai, Jacqueline Fernandez, Sonakshi Sinha set the stage on fire performing to their hit numbers at the Bandra-Kurla Complex here last night.
The sportspersons too were not to be left far behind as present and former hockey skippers Rajpal Singh and Sandeep Singh took dialogue delivery lessons from Shahrukh, who made them repeat some famous dialogues from �Chakde India�, with a humorous tinge.
Beijing Olympic Games bronze-medallist Vijender Singh too tried his hands in acting as he gave a Haryanvi touch to Shahkrukh�s dialogues from �Kal Ho Na Ho�.
Kerala pacer S Sreesanth, who has often displayed his dancing skills, performed to a medley along with glamour girls of Indian badminton � Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa, the Commonwealth Games gold medallists.
One of the highlights of the evening was when Shahrukh made the the past and present greats of Indian cricket - Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, and Anil Kumble, amongst others, do a jig on the stage.
Tendulkar, who was bestowed the �Icon of the Millennium� and the �Cricketer of the Year� (male) awards, thanked all his teammates with whom he played with since making his debut for the country in 1989 and recalled how Gavaskar had inspired his generation of players.
�I grew up watching him (Gavaskar). Any little thing we did, we were told Gavaskar did not do that, why are you doing? I also remember being gifted a bat, while I was 14 by (Dilip) Vengsarkar. I take this opportunity to thank all those with whom I have played with,� he said, adding �I�m still enjoying my cricket.�
When prodded by Shahrukh, Gavaskar narrated how he was mistakenly exchanged with another baby during the time of birth and was found at the crate near a fisherwoman, after one of his uncles failed to spot a hole near the ear of the other baby, which he had seen in Gavaskar, three-four days after the incident.
�That impact (being kept near the fisherwoman) still lasted as I was out fishing outside my off-stump on numerous occasions in my career,� the batting great quipped.
Shooter Gagan Narang, who was named the �Outstanding Performer of the Commonwealth Games� (male), exuded confidence that the performance of Indian athletes in the CWG, was an indication of things to come.
�CWG was just a trailer of what Indian sportspersons can do. Personally, I think this was a new beginning for me,� he said.
Unsung heroes of the evening - Olympians S H H Hamid (football) and Manohar Topno (Hockey), who are going through tough times financially, were handed over cheques of Rs five lakh each.
