On Wednesday, Neeraj Chopra, a gold medallist at the Tokyo Olympics, and Ravi Dahiya, a silver medalist in wrestling, were among 11 athletes nominated for the Khel Ratna Award, the country’s highest sporting honour. The Khel Ratna Award was also given to boxer Lovlina Borgohain, Indian football team captain Sunil Chhetri, and Indian men’s hockey team goalkeeper P Sreejesh. Sunil Chhetri becomes the country’s first footballer to be nominated for the award.
Avani Lekhara, a para-shooter, was one of the five para-athletes nominated for the Khel Ratna award. Shikhar Dhawan, meanwhile, was one of 35 athletes nominated for the Arjuna Award.
following are those 11 Indian athletes nominated for the Khel Ratna Award:
- Neeraj Chopra (Athletics)
- Ravi Dahiya (Wrestling)
- PR Sreejesh (Hockey)
- Lovlina Borgohain (Boxing)
- Sunil Chhetri (Football)
- Mithali Raj (Cricket)
- Pramod Bhagat (Badminton)
- Sumit Antil (Javelin)
- Avani Lekhara (Shooting)
- Krishna Nagar (Badminton)
- M Narwal (Shooting)
The committee also selected 35 athletes for the Arjuna Award, which is eight more than the previous year’s total. The Arjuna award has been given to cricketer Shikhar Dhawan, para TT player Bhavina Patel, para shuttler Suhas Yathiraj, and high jumper Nishad Kumar. The Arjuna award will also be given to members of the men’s hockey team, which won a record bronze medal in the Olympics.
Five athletes were chosen for the award last year, and four were chosen after the 2016 Rio Olympics. The national sports awards were postponed in order to examine the performance of para-athletes at the Tokyo Paralympics (August 24 to September 5).