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India’s best performing athletes in different sports were honoured by the President Droupadi Murmu in a grand ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhawan on 9th January, 2024. The National Sports Awards ceremony, which was usually held on 29th August to commemorate the birth anniversary of Indian hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand, and the occasion of National Sports Day, was postponed due to the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China from September 23 till October 8 last year.
Indian fast bowler Mohammed Shami and para-archer Sheetal Devi were among 26 athletes who received the Arjuna Award for their excellence in different sports. Shami was awarded for his breathtaking performance in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup played a crucial role for India to qualify into the final. The right-arm pacer finished with 24 scalps from just seven matches he played in the tournament at an average of 10.70 and an economy rate of 5.26. Shami was acknowledged with a huge round of applause when he was marching to collect the award from the President.
👏👏 Mohammed Shami receives the Arjuna Award from President Droupadi Murmu#MohammedShami #indianpacebowler #iccworldcup2023 #shami #droupadimurmu #maldives #lakshdeep #pmmodi #narendramodi #shamikebab #fantasykhiladi #ArjunaAward pic.twitter.com/dA2w6QItOp
— Fantasy Khiladi (@_fantasykhiladi) January 9, 2024
The Durbar Hall again resounded with applause when Sheetal Devi walked up to receive the award. The 16-year-old has been suffering from a rare medical condition called phocomelia due to which she has to live without upper limbs. However, Sheetal didn’t let her disability become her weakness as she went on to win three Gold Medals at the Para Asian Games in Hangzhou last year. She is also the only international para-archery champion without upper limbs.
#WATCH | Delhi: Para-archer Sheetal Devi received the Arjuna Award from President Droupadi Murmu at the National Sports Awards. pic.twitter.com/jwkFEd2CjH
— ANI (@ANI) January 9, 2024
Whee-chair bound para-canoeist Prachi Yadav, who won the Gold Medal in the 2023 Para-Asian games was also honoured with the Arjuna Awards by the President
Apart from that, Indian Badminton players, Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy was chosen for the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award. The duo won the first-ever Gold medal for India in Badminton at the 2023 Asian Games. Moreover, they also secured the Asian Championships title and the Indonesia Open Super 1000 title last year.
Chess coach RB Ramesh was honoured with the Dronacharya award along with four other recipients. Ramesh has groomed R. Praggnanandhaa, an 18-year-old Chess prodigy who became the youngest player to enter the final of the Chess World Cup in 2023. Praggnanandhaa is also the second Indian to enter the World Cup final after Viswanathan Anand.
With my first student! @Aarthieramesh was my first student back in 1998. She won World under 18 girls championship in 1999. The event that made me a chess coach. She has been my backbone and my breathe since then. Ever grateful for what you have endured to give me the space to be… pic.twitter.com/yKqIN9OR5K
— Ramesh RB (@Rameshchess) January 9, 2024
Here’s the list of all the recipients who won awards in different categories during the Natianal Sports Awards ceremony:
National Sports Awards 2023: Recipients of the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna
- Chirag Shetty (Badminton)
- Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy (Badminton)
National Sports Awards 2023: Recipients of the Arjuna Awards
- Ojas Pravin Deotale (Archery)
- Aditi Gopichand Swami (Archery)
- Murali Sreeshankar (Athletics)
- Parul Chaudhary (Athletics)
- Mohammad Hussamuddin (Boxing)
- R. Vaishali (Chess)
- Mohammed Shami (Cricket)
- Anush Agarwalla (Equestrian)
- Divyakriti Singh (Equestrian Dressage)
- Diksha Dagar (Golf)
- Krishan Bahadur Pathak (Hockey)
- Sushila Chanu (Hockey)
- Pawan Kumar (Kabaddi)
- Ritu Negi (Kabaddi)
- Nasreen (Kho-Kho)
- Pinki (Lawn Bowls)
- Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar (Shooting)
- Esha Singh (Shooting)
- Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (Squash)
- Ayhika Mukherjee (Table Tennis)
- Sunil Kumar (Wrestling)
- Antim Panghal (Wrestling)
- Naorem Roshibina Devi (Wushu)
- Sheetal Devi (Para-archery)
- Illuri Ajay Kumar Reddy (Blind Cricket)
- Prachi Yadav (Para-canoeing)
National Sports Awards 2023: Recipients of the Dronacharya Award (Regular Category) for Outstanding Coaches
- Lalit Kumar (Wrestling)
- RB Ramesh (Chess)
- Mahaveer Prasad Saini (Para-athletics)
- Shivendra Singh (Hockey)
- Ganesh Prabhakar Devrukhkar (Mallakhamb)
National Sports Awards 2023: Recipients of the Dronacharya Award (Lifetime Category) for Outstanding Coaches
- Jaskirat Singh Grewal (Golf)
- Bhaskaran E. (Kabaddi)
- Jayanta Kumar Pushilal (Table Tennis)
National Sports Awards 2023: Recipients of the Major Dhyan Chand Award for Lifetime Achievement
- Manjusha Kanwar (Badminton)
- Vineet Kumar Sharma (Hockey)
- Kavitha Selvaraj (Kabaddi)
National Sports Awards 2023: Recipients of the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy 2023
- Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar (Winner)
- Lovely Professional University, Punjab (1st runner-up)
- Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra (2nd runner-up)
