New Delhi: World Chess champion Gukesh D and Paris Olympics and Paralympics medallists – Manu Bhaker (shooting), Harmanpreet Singh (hockey) and Praveen Kumar (para-athlete) received the prestigious Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award from President Droupadi Murmu in a specially organised function at Rashtrapati Bhavan Friday.
National Sports Awards are given every year to recognise and reward excellence in sports. The Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award is given for the spectacular and most outstanding performance in the field of sports by a sportsperson over the period of the previous four years.
Gukesh became the youngest-ever World Chess Champion after outclassing China’s Ding Liren in the title battle in Singapore. While Manu became the first Indian athlete to win twin medals in a single edition of the Games in Paris, following a double bronze in the 10m air pistol and 10m air pistol mixed team event.
On the other hand, Harmanpreet led India to their second successive Olympic bronze medal in men’s hockey while Praveen bagged gold in the high jump T64 in the Paralympics.
Seventeen para-athletes are among the thirty-two athletes who received the Arjuna Award. The list includes Jyothi Yarraji, Annu Rani, Nitu, Saweety, Vantika Agrawal, Salima Tete, Abhishek, Sanjay, Jarmanpreet Singh, Sukhjeet Singh, Rakesh Kumar, Preeti Pal, Jeevanji Deepthi, Ajeet Singh, Sachin Sarjerao Khilari, Dharambir, Pranav Soorma, H Hokato Sema, Simran, Navdeep, Nitesh Kumar, Thulasimathi Murugesan, Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan, Manisha Ramadass, Kapil Parmar, Mona Agarwal, Rubina Francis, Swapnil Suresh Kusale, Sarabjot Singh, Abhay Singh, Sajan Prakash and Aman.
Arjuna Award is given for outstanding performance in Sports and Games over a period of the previous four years and for showing qualities of leadership, sportsmanship and a sense of discipline.
Former cyclist Sucha Singh and former para-swimmer Murlikant Rajaram Petkar were given Arjuna Awards (Lifetime). This award was given to honour and motivate those sportspersons who have contributed to sports by their performance and continue to contribute to promotion of sports even after their retirement from active sporting career.
Murlikant Rajaram Petkar made history in the 1972 Paralympic Games in Heidelberg, Germany when he won a gold medal in the Men’s 50m Freestyle 3 competition, twice improving on the World Record on his way to a golden triumph.
Subhash Rana (para-shooter), Deepali Deshpande (shooting) and Sandeep Sangwan (hockey) received the Dronacharya Award while S Muralidharan (badminton) and Armando Agnelo Colaco (football) were awarded the Dronacharya Award in the lifetime category.
Dronacharya Award is given to coaches for doing outstanding and meritorious work on a consistent basis and for enabling sportspersons to excel in international events.
Physical Education Foundation of India was conferred with Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar.
Chandigarh University, Lovely Professional University, (PB) and Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar received the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy for being overall top-performing university in the Khelo India University Games.