Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra conferred Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award

New Delhi | Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra, Paralympics gold medallist Sumit Antil, and woman cricketer Mithali Raj along with nine other sportspersons were conferred the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award — the country’s highest sporting honour — at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here on Saturday. While an unprecedented 35 athletes were honoured with the Arjuna Award in a glittering ceremony.

Loud applause greeted Chopra, the first Indian to win an athletics gold medal in Olympics at Tokyo earlier this year, and the Paralympics heroes as they received the Khel Ratna awards from President Ram Nath Kovind in the presence of a host of Ministers, dignitaries, and sports celebrities.

Tokyo Olympics Gold medalist @Neeraj_chopra1 receives Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award from President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan#NationalSportsAwards pic.twitter.com/BENsaS3zQX

— PIB India (@PIB_India) November 13, 2021

A large number of nominations were received for these awards this year, which were considered by the selection committee headed by Justice (Retd) Mukundakam Sharma earlier this month.

Khel Ratna was presented to twelve sportspersons — Neeraj (athletics), Ravi Dahiya (wrestling), Lovlina Borgohain (boxing), PR Sreejesh (hockey), Avani Lekhara (para-shooting), Antil (para-athletics), Pramod Bhagat (para-badminton), Krishna Nagar (para-badminton), Manish Narwal (para-shooting), Mithali Raj (cricket), Sunil Chhetri (football), and Manpreet Singh (hockey).

However, Tokyo 2020 Paralympic gold medallist Krishna Nagar didn’t attend the award ceremony. There were reports that his mother passed away on Friday and that’s why’he didn’t turn up for the event.

IANS

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