Deepa Malik first woman para-athlete to be conferred Khel Ratna
Delhi / Deepa Malik first woman para-athlete to be conferred Khel Ratna
Delhi - Deepa Malik first woman para-athlete to be conferred Khel Ratna
New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday conferred annual Arjuna Awards to 19 athletes and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award to para-athlete Deepa Malik and wrestler Bajrang Punia in a glittering ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here.The Selection Committee for Sports Awards 2019 had nominated the winners earlier this month. The awards are given on the occasion of National Sports Day (29 August) to mark the birth anniversary of hockey wizard late Major Dhyanchand. A stalwart of the sport, Dhyanchand won three gold medals at the Olympics for pre-independent India.Among the Arjuna awardees, Ravindra Jadeja, Anjum Moudgill, and Mohd Anas missed the ceremony owing to their professional commitments. Jadeja is currently in West Indies where the Indian cricket team is playing a bilateral series, Moudgill is representing India at the ISSF Shooting World Cup in Rio that got underway on Wednesday, while Anas is in Lucknow to participate in the Inter-State Athletics Meet.Khel Ratna awardee wrestler Bajrang Punia also missed the function as he is in Russia as a part of tune-up for the upcoming World Championships (14-22 September) in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.Here's a complete list of winners who were honoured today:Rajiv Gandhi Khel RatnaBajrang Puna (Wrestling)Deepa Malik (Para-athletics)Arjuna AwardRavindra Jadeja (cricket)Mohammed Anas Yahiya (athletics)Gurpreet Singh Sandhu (football)Sonia Lather (boxing)Chinglensana Singh Kangujam (hockey)S Bhaskaran (bodybuilding)Ajay Thakur (kabaddi)Anjum Moudgil (shooting)Bhamidipati Sai Praneeth (badminton)Tajinder Pal Singh Toor (athletics)Pramod Bhagat (para sports-badminton)Harmeet Rajul Desai (table tennis)Pooja Dhanda (wrestling)Fouaad Mirza (equestrian)Simran Singh Shergill (polo)Poonam Yadav (cricket)Swapna Burman (athletics)Sundar Singh Gurjar (para sports-athletics)Gaurav Singh Gill (motorsports)Dronacharya Award (regular category)Mohinder Singh Dhillon (athletics)Sandeep Gupta (table tennis)Vimal Kumar (badminton)Dronacharya Award (lifetime category)Sanjay Bhardwaj (cricket)Rambir Singh Khokar (kabaddi)Mezban Patel (hockey)Dhyan Chand Award (lifetime achievement award)Manoj Kumar (wrestling)C Lalremsanga (archery)Arup Basak (table tennis)Nitten Kirrtane (tennis)Manuel Fredricks (hockey)Rashtriya Khel Proysahan PuruskarGagan Narang Sports Promotion FoundationGoSports FoundationRayalaseema Development TrustMaulana Abul Kalam Azad TrophyPanjab University, Chandigarh