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It has been a great day for India in sports after it was announced that 9 recipients (from field of sports) have been selected to be felicitated with Padma Awards this year on Republic Day. The country witnessed some incredible performances in Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in 2021 and the fantastic accomplishments are deservingly set to get honoured by the Government of India.
While Devendra Jhajharia will receive the Padma Bhushan Award, Neeraj Chopra - who won a historic Gold medal in Tokyo - has been named as the recipient of Padma Shri Award. As sports minister Anurag Thakur shared a post on Twitter to congratulate the athletes, he, unfortunately, made a huge blunder.
The 47-year-old, by mistake, mentioned someone else instead of javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra in his post. Notably, the official handle of the Olympic Gold medalist is @Neeraj_chopra1 but Anurag Thakur tagged @NeerajChopra which led to the error.
Check out Anurag Thakur's post:
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Meanwhile, Neeraj Chopra (on his official Twitter handle) expressed his delight on being named as the recipient of the prestigious award. The 24-year-old thanked everyone for their good wishes and blessings and promised everyone that he will continue to work hard to bring glory to the country.
Recipients (Sports) of Padma Awards
Shri Devendra Jhajharia (Javelin) - Padma Bhushan
Shri Sumit Antil (Javelin) - Padma Shri
Shri Pramod Bhagat (Badminton) - Padma Shri
Shri Neeraj Chopra (Javelin) - Padma Shri
Shri Sankaranarayana Menon Chundayil (Kalaripayattu) - Padma Shri
Shri Faisal Ali Dar (Martial Arts) - Padma Shri
Ms. Vandana Kataria (Hockey) - Padma Shri
Ms. Avani Lekhara (Shooting) - Padma Shri
Shri Brahmanand Sankhwalkar (Football) - Padma Shri