Lucknow Press
Four players including India’s female shooter Manu Bhaker, who won two Olympic medals in Paris Olympics, and World Chess Championship winner Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh, were awarded the Khel Ratna award. President Draupadi Murmu honored the sports award winners at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Friday. Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya was also present during this.
The Sports Awards 2024 were announced by the Sports Ministry in the first week of January and President Murmu felicitated the awardees at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Apart from Manu and Gukesh, Indian men’s hockey team captain Harmanpreet Singh and Paralympian Praveen Kumar were also given the Khel Ratna award.
Manu-Harmanpreet impressed in Olympics, Gukesh in World Championship
22-year-old Manu became the first player from independent India to win two medals in the same Olympics, winning bronze medals in the 10m air pistol individual and mixed team event at the Paris Olympics in August. India won the bronze medal for the second consecutive Olympics under the captaincy of Harmanpreet Singh at the Paris Olympics. 18-year-old Gukesh became the youngest world champion, who was also the architect of the Indian team’s historic gold medal at the Chess Olympiad last year. Para high jumper Praveen won the gold medal in the T64 category at the Paris Paralympics. This is the category of players who do not have one or both legs below the knee and depend on artificial legs to run.
34 players received Arjuna Award
Apart from Khel Ratna, 34 players were awarded Arjuna Award for outstanding performance in sports in 2024, out of which athlete Sucha Singh and para swimmer Muralikant Rajaram Petkar were awarded Arjuna Award Lifetime Award. Five people received Dronacharya Award for providing better coaching, including badminton coach S Muralidharan and football coach Armando Agnelo Colaco in the lifetime category.
