Double Olympic medallist shooter Manu Bhaker and chess world champion D Gukesh are among the four athletes finalised for the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award, the Sports Ministry announced on Thursday.
Indian men’s hockey captain Harmanpreet Singh and Paralympic gold medal winner Praveen Kumar will be the other two recipients of the prestigious award that will be bestowed upon them by President Droupadi Murmu at a specially organised function at Rashtrapati Bhavan in the national capital on January 17.
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The Khel Ratna is the highest sporting honour for sportspersons in India. The sports ministry also named 32 athletes, including 17 para-athletes, for the Arjuna Awards.
The announcement came as a relief for shooter Manu Bhaker, whose name was initially missing from the list of nominees for the Khel Ratna award. Manu’s father Ram Kishan and coach Jaspal Rana were furious over the snub. Later, Manu acknowledged a potential oversight in the nomination process and clarified that she was not concerned with awards and remained focused on winning more laurels for the country.
“With regards to the ongoing issue of my nomination for the most prestigious Khel Ratna award, I would like to state that as an athlete my role is to play and perform for my country. Awards and recognition keep me motivated but are not my goal. I believe there has been a lapse, maybe on my part while filing for the nomination which is being corrected. Irrespective of the award I shall remain motivated to win more medals for my country. It is a request to everyone, please do not speculate on this matter,” Manu had posted on social media.
The 22-year-old Bhaker became independent India’s first athlete to win two medals in a single edition of the Olympics with her bronze-winning show in the 10m air pistol individual and 10m air pistol mixed team events in August.
In the same Games, Harmanpreet Singh led the Indian men’s hockey team to a second consecutive bronze medal, which helped them match the feats of the sides of the 1968 Mexico City and 1972 Munich editions of the Summer Games.
On the other hand, para high-jumper Praveen found himself as one of the recipients after being crowned the T64 champion in the Paris Paralympics. The T64 classification is for athletes who have one or both legs missing below the knee and rely on a prosthetic leg for running.
Meanwhile, the 18-year-old Gukesh D recently became the youngest-ever World champion while also helping the Indian team win a historic gold in the Chess Olympiad last year.
“The awardees will receive their awards from the President of India at a specially organised function at Rashtrapati Bhavan on January 17, 2025 (Friday) at 1100 hours,” the sports ministry said in a release.
List of awardees:
Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award: Gukesh D (Chess), Harmanpreet Singh (Hockey), Praveen Kumar (Para-Athletics) and Manu Bhakar (Shooting).
Arjuna Award: Jyothi Yarraji (Athletics), Nitu (Boxing), Saweety (Boxing), Vantika Agrawal (Chess), Salima Tete (Hockey), Abhishek (Hockey), Sanjay (Hockey), Jarmanpreet Singh (Hockey), Sukhjeet Singh (Hockey), Rakesh Kumar (Para-Archery), Preeti Pal (Para-Athletics), Jeevanji Deepthi (Para-Athletics), Ajeet Singh (Para-Athletics), Sachin Sarjerao Khilari (Para-Athletics), Dharambir (Para-Athletics), Pranav Soorma (Para-Athletics), H Hokato Sema (Para-Athletics), Simran (Para-Athletics), Navdeep (Para-Athletics), Nitesh Kumar (Para-Badminton), Thulasimathi Murugesan (Para-Badminton), Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan (Para-Badminton), Manisha Ramadass (Para-Badminton), Kapil Parmar (Para-Judo), Mona Agarwal (Para-Shooting), Rubina Francis (Para-Shooting), Swapnil Suresh Kusale (Shooting), Sarabjot Singh (Shooting), Abhay Singh (Squash), Sajan Prakash (Swimming), Aman (Wrestling)
Arjuna Awards (Lifetime): Sucha Singh (Athletics), Murlikant Rajaram Petkar (Para-Swimming)
Dronacharya Award for Outstanding Coaches: Subhash Rana (Para-Shooting), Deepali Deshpande (Shooting), Sandeep Sangwan (Hockey)
Lifetime Category: S Muralidharan (Badminton), Armando Agnelo Colaco (Football)
