Glory, awards for athletes

New Delhi, september 25

Ace cricketer Virat Kohli sent the shutterbugs into a clicking frenzy as he received the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, sharing the country’s highest sporting honour with world champion weightlifter Mirabai Chanu at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. 

Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra and junior world champion sprinter Hima Das were among the 20 sportspersons who received the Arjuna Award from President Ram Nath Kovind.

The ceremony, which is traditionally held on August 29 to commemorate the birth anniversary of hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand, was pushed to September 25 this year to avoid a clash of dates with the Jakarta Asian Games, which concluded on September 2.

Kohli was accompanied by his actor wife Anushka Sharma, mother Saroj Kohli and elder brother Vikas at the ceremony. Kohli arrived through a separate entry just before the start of the ceremony and left as soon as it got over.

Kohli is the third cricketer to be honoured with the Khel Ratna after batting legend Sachin Tendulkar (1997-1998) and former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (2007). Kohli, the world’s No. 1 Test batsman, has been in stupendous in the past three years though he missed out on the top award despite being nominated in 2016 and 2017. The 29-year-old has 6,147 runs in 71 Tests with 23 centuries and 9,779 runs in 211 ODIs, including 35 tons. Kohli received the Arjuna Award in 2013 and the Padma Shri last year. 

Chanu, who had received the Padma Shri earlier this year, was chosen for the Khel Ratna following her gold medal in 48kg category at the World Weightlifting Championships last year. She also bagged the yellow metal in the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games but didn’t compete at the Asian Games due to an injury. 

While the Khel Ratna carries a prize purse of Rs 7.5 lakh, the Arjuna awardees are given Rs 5 lakh each along with a citation. Besides the Khel Ratna and Arjuna Awards, the President also gave away Dronacharya and Dhyan Chand awards to the coaches, the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure awards, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy and Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar.

Controversies 

The awards, like every year, copped a fair share of controversies after wrestler Bajrang Punia’s threat to move court over the Khel Ratna snub being the most prominent one. He eventually backed down after meeting Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore. Before this, the Sports Ministry struck off national compound archery coach Jiwanjot Singh Teja’s name from the list of Dronacharya awardees due to a past case of indiscipline. Teja resigned from his position to express his angst.

The Dronacharya Award was presented to eight coaches this year, including cricket mentor Tarak Sinha and 39-year-old boxing coach CA Kuttappa. The Dhyan Chand Award for lifetime sporting achievement was given to four former athletes. Among the notable absentees was cricketer Smriti Mandhana and tennis player Rohan Bopanna, both of whom were to receive the Arjuna Award. — PTI

The Awardees

• Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award: Mirabai Chanu and Virat Kohli 
• Arjuna Awards: Neeraj Chopra, Jinson Johnson and Hima Das (athletics); N Sikki Reddy (badminton); Satish Kumar (boxing); Smriti Mandhana (cricket); Shubhankar Sharma (golf); Manpreet Singh, Savita (hockey), Ravi Rathore (polo), Rahi Sarnobat, Ankur Mittal, Shreyasi Singh (shooting); Manika Batra, G Sathiyan (table tennis); Rohan Bopanna (tennis); Sumit (wrestling); Pooja Kadian (wushu); Ankur Dhama (para-athletics); Manoj Sarkar (para-badminton)
• Dronacharya Awards: C A Kuttappa (boxing); Vijay Sharma (weightlifting); A Srinivasa Rao (table tennis); Sukhdev Singh Pannu (athletics); Clarence Lobo (hockey, lifetime); Tarak Sinha (cricket, lifetime); Jiwan Kumar Sharma (judo, lifetime); VR Beedu (athletics, lifetime)
• Dhyan Chand Awards: Satyadev Prasad (archery); Bharat Kumar Chetry (hockey); Bobby Aloysius (athletics); Chougale Dadu Dattatray (wrestling)
• Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar: 1. Identification and Nurturing of Budding and Young Talent: Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited 2. Encouragement to Sports through Corporate Social Responsibility: JSW Sports 3. Sports for Development: Isha Outreach
• Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy 2017-18: Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar