Manu, D Gukesh among 4 picked for Khel Ratna
Under fire for “ignoring” double Olympic bronze medallist Manu Bhaker for the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna, the government on Thursday announced the country’s highest sporting honour for her and three others.
17 of 32 Arjuna award winners para-athletes
Of the 32 selected for this year’s Arjuna Award, 17 are para-athletes. They had won 29 medals at the Paris Paralympics. Prominent among them are gold medallists Dharambir (club throw), Navdeep Singh (javelin throw) and Nitesh Kumar (para badminton).
Reigning world chess champion D Gukesh, India hockey captain Harmanpreet Singh, who was part of the team that won the second successive bronze medal at the Paris Olympics, and Paralympics gold medallist in men’s T64 high jump Praveen Kumar will also receive the award at a ceremony slated for January 17. It is learnt that Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya used his discretionary powers to add Bhaker’s name to the list that was recommended by the Arjuna Award committee headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice V Ramasubramanian.
A huge controversy had erupted after it emerged that Bhaker’s name was not put up before the committee, causing embarrassment to the Sports Ministry. Neither the committee members nor the sports officials, including secretary Sujata Chaturvedi, had flagged the lapse during the meeting. After Bhaker’s father Ramkishan and coach Jaspal Rana questioned her omission, ministry sources had confirmed that both her and Gukesh’s names would be added by the minister.
A formal announcement of awards, which came on Thursday, was kept on hold following the death of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and subsequent declaration of a seven-day mourning period by the Centre.
Other than the four, 32 sportspersons have been picked for Arjuna Award. They include Olympic medallists in shooting Swapnil Kusale and Sarabjot Singh, and Aman Sehrawat, who won a bronze in wrestling.
Women World Boxing gold medallist Saweety Boora, javelin star Annu Rani, hockey ace Salima Tete, and track & field star Jyothi Yarraji are the other big names that figure on the list. As many as 17 para-athletes have been picked for the awards to honour their resounding success at the Paris Paralympics.
Khel Ratna: Manu Bhaker, D Gukesh, Harmanpreet Singh, Praveen Kumar
Arjuna Award: Jyothi Yarraji, Annu Rani, Nitu, Saweety Boora, Vantika Agrawal, Salima Tete, Abhishek, Sanjay, Jarmanpreet Singh, Sukhjeet Singh, Rakesh Kumar, Preeti Pal, Jeevanji Deepthi, Ajeet Singh, Sachin Sarjerao Khilari, Dharambir, Pranav Soorma, H Hokato Sema, Simran, Navdeep, Nitesh Kumar, Thulasimathi Murugesan, Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan, Manisha Ramadass, Kapil Parmar, Mona Agarwal, Rubina Francis, Swapnil Kusale, Sarabjot Singh, Abhay Singh, Sajan Prakash and Aman Sehrawat; Arjuna Awards (Lifetime): Sucha Singh and Murlikant Rajaram Petkar. Dronacharya Award: Subhash Rana, Deepali Deshpande and Sandeep Sangwan; Lifetime: S Muralidharan and Armando Colaco.
