President Ram Nath Kovind, today honoured Indian athletes with the National Sports Awards 2021 at a special ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, on November 2 had announced the National Sports Awards to acknowledge and reward the incredible performances of players.
Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, Arjuna Award for outstanding performance in sports and games, Dronacharya Award for outstanding coaches in sports and games, Dhyan Chand Award for
Lifetime Achievement in Sports and Games, Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy are among the categories under which the sportspersons are awarded.
Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award is given to athletes who have performed incredibly in their respective sports over four years. This year the award is presented to 12 athletes.
These are- Neeraj Chopra (Athletics), Ravi Kumar(Wrestling), Lovlina Borgohain (Boxing), P.R Sreejesh (Hockey), Avani Lekhara (Para Shooting), Sumit Antil (Para Athletics), Pramod Bhagat (Para Badminton), Krishna Nagar (Para Badminton), Manish Narwal (Para Shooting), Mithali Raj (Cricket), Sunil Chhetri (Football), Manpreet Singh (Hockey).
1) Neeraj Chopra (Javelin Throw)
India's golden boy Neeraj Chopra is awarded the Major Dhyanchand Khel Ratna award. He is the first athlete from Haryana to win an Olympic medal in track and field at the Tokyo Olympics
2021.
Neeraj Chopra won the gold medal in javelin throw.
Neeraj has won medals for India in six major international tournaments (five gold and one silver). He won gold Medal in the Jakarta Asian Games in 2018, Gold Coast Commonwealth Games,
an Asian Championship in 2017, South Asian Games in 2016 and Junior World Championship in 2016. Neeraj won silver in Junior Asian Championship in 2016.
2) Ravi Dahiya (Wrestling)
Haryana's Ravi Dahiya won silver at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Ravi is only the second Indian, after Sushil Kumar, to reach the wrestling finals.
Previously, Ravi had won a bronze medal at the 2019 World Championships. He won gold medals in the 2020 and 2021 Asian Championships. Ravi took silver in the 2018 Under-23 Championship.
3) Lovlina Borgohain (Boxing)
Assam's Lovlina Borgohain won a bronze medal for India in the 69 kg weight class in Tokyo Olympics 2021.
Lovlina is India's third boxer overall and the second female boxer to win a medal.
Previously, she has won bronze medals in the 2018 and 2019 World Boxing Championships, silver in the first Indian Open International Boxing Tournament in Delhi, and gold in the second
Indian Open International Boxing Tournament in Guwahati. Aside from that, she won a bronze medal at the 2017 Asian Boxing Championship.
Also Read: Laxman posts image of a sick Rizwan, salutes the Pak cricketer's grit
4) Avni Lekhra (Para Shooting)
Avni Lekhara of Rajasthan won gold for India in the 10m Air Rifle event at the Tokyo Paralympics. Avni became the country's first female shooter to win a gold medal at the Olympics
or Paralympics.
5) Pramod Bhagat (Para Badminton)
Pramod from Bihar won gold for India in badminton at the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021. Pramod has also received the Odisha government's Arjuna Award and the Biju Patnaik Award in 2019.
Pramod won two gold medals in the April Dubai Para Badminton tournament. Apart from the gold medal in singles, he also won the gold medal in mixed doubles in the SL4-SL3 category with
Manoj Sarkar.
Pramod has 45 international medals to his name, including four gold medals at the World Championships. He has two gold and one silver medal from the BWF World Championship in the last
eight years. He won a silver and a bronze medal at the 2018 Para Asian Games.
6) Sumit Antil (Javelin Throw)
Haryana's Sumit Antil won gold in the Tokyo Paralympics 2021 and set a world record in the F64 category of Javelin Throw.
Sumit won a silver at the 2019 World Championships. After that, he earned silver in the 2019 Paris Open Handicraft and World Para-Athletics Championships held in Dubai in 2019.
7) Manish Narwal (Para Shooting)
Haryana's Manish Narwal won gold in the Paralympics in Tokyo. He took first place with a score of 218.2.
8) Mithali Raj (Cricket)
Mithali Raj leads India's women ODI team. S he has acquired 20,000 runs across all three formats of cricket. Mithali is the world's first female cricketer to accomplish this
feat.
Previously, Mithali was also honoured with the Padma Shri in 2015 and the Arjuna Award in 2003.
Also Read: 'Sania Mirza is clapping for enemy country Pakistan', Indian tennis star receives hate on Twitter
9) Krishna Nagar (Badminton)
Jaipur's Krishna Nagar won the gold medal at the Tokyo Paralympics.
10) Manpreet Singh (Hockey)
Hailing from Jalandhar, Punjab, Manpreet Singh is captain of the Indian men's hockey team. After 41 years, the Indian men's hockey team won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics 2021.
Manpreet was also India's flag bearer at the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony.
11) PR Sreejesh
PR Sreejesh is from Kerala's Ernakulam. He is the Indian hockey team's goalkeeper. When India won Junior World Cup of Hockey in 2008, he was named the tournament's best goalkeeper.
With the exception of PR Sreejesh and Manpreet Singh, the entire men's hockey India team that won a historic bronze medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics received the Arjun Award.
12) Sunil Chhetri (Football)
Andhra Pradesh's Sunil Chhetri is the captain of both Bengaluru FC and the Indian team in the Indian Super League.
Sunil had made a major achievement against Nepal in the final of the SAIF Championship. Chhetri's goal came in the 49th minute of the game. With this, he matched Argentine football legend Lionel Messi's record of 80 international goals. Under Sunil's captaincy, India won the SAIF Championship for the eighth time.