Asian Lifetime Achievement award for Krishnan

Kuala Lumpur: Indian tennis legend Ramanathan Krishnan was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Asian Sports Press Union.

Krishnan, who twice reached the semifinals at Wimbledon, is considered the greatest tennis player India and Asia ever produced.

Former Pakistan cricket captain Imran Khan was given the Humanitarian Award for his efforts in setting up a cancer hospital in his country.

China's Liu Xiang, the men's 110m hurdler, was named the Asian Sportsman of the Year, while Malaysian squash player Nicol David, the world No 1, bagged the Asian Sportswoman of the Year award.

Nicol beat Thai weightlifter Paweena Thongsuk and South Korea's Jin Sun-yu (winter sports) to take the inaugural award.

Other winners of the Asian Sports Awards (ASA) were South Korea's short track speed skating team (Asian Team of the Year - men), Chinese badminton doubles pair Gao Ling-Huang Sui (Asian Team of the Year - women) and former Pakistani cricketer Imran Khan (Humanitarian Award).

Krishnan, born on April 11, 1937, was world No 3 at a point and it is the highest world ranking attained by an Asian tennis player.

He won the junior Wimbledon in 1954 and then twice reached the Wimbledon semifinals and lost to the eventual champions - to Neale Fraser in 1960 and Rod Laver in 1961.

He also had the best Davis Cup record till Leander Paes overtook him.

His son Ramesh Krishnan also became a well-known tennis player, who won the Wimbledon junior title exactly 25 years later in 1979.

Nicol gets her due

Nicol, 23, became world No 1 in January last year. She won titles at the British Open, World Open, Qatar Airways Challenge Open, Malaysian Open, Hong Kong Open and a gold medal at the Doha Asian Games.

The 23-year-old Liu Xiang, won the gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics and is the current world record holder of the 110m hurdles, at 12.88 seconds.