Badminton Duo Satwik-Chirag Conferred With Khel Ratna Award; Mohammed Shami Receives Arjuna Award | Cricket News

India’s best-performing athletes have been on Tuesday conferred with the nationwide sports activities awards by President Droupadi Murmu in a regal ceremony the place shuttlers Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy together with cricketer Mohammed Shami walked in to rapturous applause on the Rashtrapati Bhawan.  Chirag and Satwik have been introduced the coveted Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award for a breakout 2023, throughout which they received their maiden Asian Games gold — a primary for India in badminton –, whereas additionally clinching the Asian Championships title and the Indonesia Open Super 1000 title.

The awards ceremony, often held on August 29 to commemorate the beginning anniversary of hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand, was deferred due to the Hangzhou Asian Games from September 23 until October 8 final yr.

An ambiance of gaiety pervaded the Rashtrapati Bhawan as 26 athletes and para-athletes have been conferred the Arjuna Awards.

Chirag and Satwik, who turned world No.1 final yr, can be aiming for an Olympic medal in Paris, having all however sealed qualification for the worldwide showpiece later this yr by advantage of being world No.2.

“Yes that is our next goal (to win an Olympic medal). We hope to do the country proud again,” mentioned Chirag.

Also receiving an enormous spherical of applause was the newly-crowned chess Grandmaster R. Vaishali, the elder sister of precocious chess expertise R. Praggnanandhaa.

Vaishali was honoured for changing into the third girl from the nation after Koneru Humpy and Dronavalli Harika to show GM.

Pistol taking pictures sensation, 19-year-old Esha Singh, was among the many notable absentees as she is competing within the Asian Olympic Qualifiers in Jakarta.

On Monday, she certified for the Paris Olympics after successful the person and crew gold in 10m air pistol occasions.

Other sporting bigwigs who have been chosen for the Arjuna award this yr have been wrestler Antim Panghal, a former junior world champion and bronze-winner on the senior occasion final yr, boxer Mohammad Hussamuddin (bronze-winner ultimately yr’s world championship), and para archer Sheetal Devi.

Devi, who received two gold medals within the Hangzhou Asian Games, is the primary worldwide para archer with out higher limbs on account of a uncommon situation known as Phocomelia.

Among the notable Dronacharya awardees this yr is chess coach RB Ramesh, who has groomed Praggnanandhaa.

List of National Sports Award winners:

Khel Ratna Award for 2023:

1. Chirag Shetty and Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy (badminton).

Arjuna Awards for 2023:

1. Ojas Pravin Deotale (archery)
2. Aditi Gopichand Swami (archery)
3. Murali Sreeshankar (athletics)
4. Parul Chaudhary (athletics)
5. Mohammed Hussamuddin (boxing)
6. R Vaishali (chess)
7. Mohammed Shami (cricket)
8. Anush Agarwalla (equestrian)
9. Divyakriti Singh (equestrian dressage)
10. Diksha Dagar (golf)
11. Krishan Bahadur Pathak (hockey)
12. Sushila Chanu (hockey)
13. Pawan Kumar (kabaddi)
14. Ritu Negi (kabaddi)
15. Nasreen (kho-kho)
16. Pinki (garden bowls)
17. Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar (taking pictures)
18. Esha Singh (taking pictures)
19. Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (squash)
20. Ayhika Mukherjee (desk tennis)
21. Sunil Kumar (wrestling)
22. Antim Panghal (wrestling)
23. Naorem Roshibina Devi (wushu)
24. Sheetal Devi (para archery)
25. Illuri Ajay Kumar Reddy (blind cricket)
26. Prachi Yadav (para canoeing)

Dronacharya Award (Regular Category) for excellent coaches:

1. Lalit Kumar (wrestling)
2. RB Ramesh (chess)
3. Mahaveer Prasad Saini (para athletics)
4. Shivendra Singh (hockey)
5. Ganesh Prabhakar Devrukhkar (mallakhamb)
6. Dronacharya Award (Lifetime Category) for excellent coaches:
7. Jaskirat Singh Grewal (golf)
8. Bhaskaran E (kabaddi)
9. Jayanta Kumar Pushilal (desk tennis)

Dhyan Chand Award for Lifetime Achievement:

1. Manjusha Kanwar (badminton)
2. Vineet Kumar Sharma (hockey)
3. Kavitha Selvaraj (kabaddi)

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy 2023:

1. Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar (general winner college)
2. Lovely Professional University, Punjab (1st runner-up)
3. Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra (2nd runner-up)

With PTI inputs