In a dramatic turn of events ahead of the Assembly elections, Arjuna Award-winning athlete Swapna Barman has finally cleared the legal and administrative hurdles that had threatened to derail her political debut as a Trinamul Congress candidate from the Rajganj Assembly constituency in Jalpaiguri.
Internationally acclaimed Indian swimmer Bula Chowdhury broke down upon discovering that her Padma Shri, Arjuna Award, and other valuable medals and trophies had been stolen from her ancestral residence in Hindmotor, Hooghly district.
"Challenging times help you learn in life," says Paris Olympics bronze medalist in hockey, Jarmanpreet Singh as he reviewed the ups and downs of his life.
President Draupadi Murmu conferred the award on Mohd Shami and Parul Chaudhary, both residents of Uttar Pradesh, at a formal ceremony in New Delhi.
Five badminton players have been conferred the Khel Ratna so far; Pullela Gopichand (2001), Saina Nehwal (2010), PV Sindhu (2016), Pramod Bhagat (2021) and Krishna Nagar (2021).
While Rohit was nominated for the prestigious Khel Ratna award, Ishant Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Deepti Sharma were nominated for Arjuna Awards on Saturday.
Mirabai Chanu recovered from a back injury that hampered her in 2018 and missed out on a medal at the 2019 Asian Championships by the barest of margins.
Ankita Raina had won a women's singles bronze medal at the 2018 edition of the Asian Games, while Divij Sharan won a gold medal in the men's doubles event.
Bumrah is now regarded as one of the best fast bowlers in the business with 104 wickets in 64 ODIs and 68 scalps in just 14 Test matches.
Bala has so far played three games for Rangers FC before the novel coronavirus reared its ugly head and forced sporting activities across the world to virtually come to a grinding halt.
