In a first, 4 to get Khel Ratna

New Delhi, August 22 

While shuttler Sindhu created history by becoming the first female athlete from India to win a silver medal at the Olympics, Malik, who bagged a bronze in the 58kg category, became the first female wrestler from India to win a medal at the Games.

Karmakar, India’s first female gymnast to qualify for the Olympics, went on to miss a bronze by 0.15 points but her clean finish in the high-risk Produnova vault won the hearts of the nation. Rai bagged over half a dozen medals in the past two years, including gold at Asiad and Commonwealth Games and a silver in the World Championships.

The Sports Ministry also selected 15 athletes for this year’s Arjuna Award. The notable names in the list are boxer Shiva Thapa, runner Lalita Babar, cricketer Ajinkya Rahane, hockey players VR Raghunath and Rani Rampal among others.

This year’s Dronacharya Award has been conferred upon six coaches, the most notable among being Karmakar’s coach, Bishweshwar Nandi. — PTI

List of award winners

Dronacharya Award

Nagapuri Ramesh (athletics), Sagar Mal Dhayal (boxing), Raj Kumar Sharma (cricket), Bishweshwar Nandi (gymnastics), S Pradeep Kumar (swimming, lifetime) and Mahabir Singh (wrestling, lifetime)

Arjuna Award

Rajat Chauhan (archery), Lalita Babar (athletics), Sourav Kothari (billiards and snooker), Shiva Thapa (boxing), Ajinkya Rahane (cricket), Subrata Paul (football), Rani (hockey), VR Raghunath (hockey), Vinesh (wrestling), Gurpreet Singh (shooting), Apurvi Chandela (shooting), Soumyajit Ghosh (table tennis), Amit Kumar (wrestling), Sandeep Singh Mann (para-athletics), Virender Singh (wrestling, deaf)

Dhyan Chand Award

Satti Geetha (athletics), Sylvanus Dung Dung (hockey), Rajendra Pralhad Shelke (rowing)

MAKA Trophy 

Punjabi University, Patiala