It's been a historic year for Indian sports and it was finally time on Saturday for the athletes to get rewarded for making the country proud across the globe. The key event of 2021 was the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics where the Indian athletes produced some memorable performances, breaking various records. India won 7 medals in Olympics while they bagged 19 medals at Paralympics.
As a result of the heroic show by the athletes in Tokyo and in various other sporting events during the last twelve months, the Government of India decided to reward them for their spectacular performances. While 12 athletes received Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, 35 athletes were conferred 'Arjuna Award'.
The list of award winners was announced a few days back and the special ceremony finally took place on Saturday at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi where the athletes received the prestigious sporting honour from president Ram Nath Kovind.
Watch it here:
List of athletes who received Khel Ratna Award
Neeraj Chopra (Athletics), Ravi Kumar (Wrestling), Lovlina Borgohain (Boxing), Sreejesh P.R (Hockey), Avani Lekhara (Para Shooting), Sumit 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).
List of athletes who received Arjuna Award
Athletes: Arpinder Singh (Athletics), Simranjit Kaur (Boxing), Shikhar Dhawan (Cricket), Bhavani Devi Chadalavada Anandha Sundhararaman (Fencing), Monika (Hockey), Vandana Katariya (Hockey), Sandeep Narwal (Kabaddi), Himani Uttam Parab (Mallakhamb), Abhishek Verma (Shooting), Ankita Raina (Tennis), Deepak Punia (Wrestling)
Para-athletes: Yogesh Kathuniya (Para-athletics), Nishad Kumar (Para-athletics), Praveen Kumar (Para-athletics), Suhash Yathiraj (Para-badminton), Singhraj Adhana (Para-shooting), Bhavina Patel (Para table-tennis), Harvinder Singh (Para archery), Sharad Kumar (Para-athletics)
Hockey players: Dilpreet Singh (Hockey), Harman Preet Singh (Hockey), Rupinder Pal Singh (Hockey), Surender Kumar (Hockey), Amit Rohidas (Hockey), Birendra Lakra (Hockey), Sumit (Hockey), Nilakanta Sharma (Hockey), Hardik Singh (Hockey), Vivek Sagar Prasad (Hockey), Gurjant Singh (Hockey), Mandeep Singh (Hockey), Shamsher Singh (Hockey), Lalit Kumar Upadhyay (Hockey), Varun Kumar (Hockey), Simranjeet Singh (Hockey).