New Delhi
In a glittering function which was organised at the Durbar Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan here, the President also bestowed 35 sportspersons with the Arjuna award as he recognised the country’s unparalleled Olympic and Paralympic performances.
The event became an in-person affair this time after going online the previous year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The star attraction of the evening was Neeraj, who received his Khel Ratna award amid thunderous applause from the select dignitaries who were present on the specially organised function.
Neeraj, who became India’s first Olympic medallist in athletics at Tokyo 2020 and the first gold medallist in 13 years, was the first among the Khel Ratna awardees to receive the honour.
Besides the 23-year-old, other recipients of the Khel Ratna recognition were Olympic bronze-winning India men’s hockey team captain Manpreet Singh, veteran hockey goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, Olympic silver-winning wrestler Ravi Dahiya, Olympic bronze-winning boxer Lovlina Borgohain and Mithali, who became the first woman cricketer to get the award.
Sunil Chhetri became the first footballer to be bestowed with the award, a well-deserved recognition for keeping pace with the likes of Lionel Messi in scoring international goals.
Paralympic gold medal winners Avani Lekhara (Shooting), Sumit Antil (Athletics), Pramod Bhagat (Badminton), Krishna Nagar (Badminton) and Manish Narwal (Shooting) were also given the Khel Ratna award.
Along with the 12 Khel Ratnas, India, this year, honoured 35 Arjuna awardees, including cricketer Dhawan, Olympic bronze-winning men’s hockey team members and other medal winners from the Paralympic Games in Japan.
The long list this year was a result of the historic medal hauls at the Olympic Games (7) and Paralympics (19). The event is traditionally held on August 29 every year to commemorate the birth anniversary of hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand.
Present at Saturday’s ceremony was Sports Minister Anurag Thakur along with his predecessor Kiren Rijiju.
Besides, a total of 10 coaches were conferred with the Dronacharya award.In the life-time achievement category, T P Ouseph (Athletics), Sarkar Talwar (Cricket), Sarpal Singh (Hockey), Ashan Kumar (Kabaddi) and Tapan Kumar Panigrahi (Swimming) received the honour. The winners in the regular Dronacharya category were Radhakrishnan Nair (Athletics), Sandhya Gurung (Boxing), Pritam Siwach (Hockey), Jai Prakash Nautiyal (Para Shooting) and S Raman (Table Tennis).
Sajjan Singh (Wrestling) won the Dhyan Chand Award for lifetime achievement along with former world champion boxer Lekha KC, Abhijeet Kunte (Chess), Davinder Singh Garcha (Hockey) and Vikas Kumar (Kabaddi).
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