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Khel Ratna
Double Olympic-medallist shooter Manu Bhaker and teenage chess world champion D Gukesh received a euphoric round of applause as they walked up to receive the prestigious Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna from President Droupadi Murmu in a glittering National Sports Awards ceremony here on Friday. The other two recipients of the country's highest sporting honour were men's hockey captain Harmanpreet Singh and Paralympic gold-winning high jumper Praveen Kumar when the annual honours were bestowed at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here. Harmanpreet was a part of the national sides that won bronze medals in the Tokyo as well as Paris Olympics. Praveen, on the other hand, upgraded his silver at the Japanese capital to a gold last year in Paris. He was born with a short left leg. Thirty-two athletes are being honoured with the Arjuna Award out of which an unprecedented 17 are para-athletes. The athletes selected for the Arjuna award include Paris Olympics bronze medal-winning group of wrestler Aman .
Table tennis legend Achanta Sharath Kamal will receive the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, the country's highest sporting honour, from President Droupadi Murmu on November 30 at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here. While Sharath is the lone Khel Ratna award recipient, a total of 25 athletes including shuttlers Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy, woman boxer Nikhat Zareen, athletes Eldhose Paul, Avinash Sable have been nominated for the Arjuna Award this year. The awardees will receive their awards from the President at a specially organised function at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Jiwanjot Singh Teja (Archery), Mohammad Ali Qamar (Boxing), Suma Siddharth Shirur (Para shooting) and Sujeet Maan (Wrestling) have been nominated for the ?Dronacharya Award in the regular category, while Dinesh Jawahar Lad (Cricket), Bimal Prafulla Ghosh (Football) and Raj Singh will receive the recognition in the lifetime category. Ashwini Akkunji C (Athletics), Dharamvir Singh (Hockey), B C Suresh (Kabaddi) and Nir Bahadur ..