New Delhi: Ace shooter Ronjan Sodhi was conferred with the Rajiv Gandhi Kehl Ratna while 14 other sportspersons, including cricketer Virat Kohli were given the Arjuna Award by President of India Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhawan here on Saturday.
Sodhi became the seventh shooter to be honoured with the prestigious award. Interestingly, it is for the third consecutive year that the Khel Ratna award has gone to a shooter.
Meanwhile star attraction at the ceremony was cricketer Kohli, who was given a thunderous applause while receiving the Arjuna award. However, badminton player P V Sindhu, who became the first Indian woman shuttler to clinch a bronze medal at the World Championships, could not be present at the function personally to take the award as she was playing the final of inaugural Indian Badminton League on Saturday.
Besides Sindhu, this year's Arjuna awardees list featured World Championship bronze medallist Kavita Chahal, veteran squash player Joshna Chinappa, former hockey captain Saba Anjum, paddler Mouma Das, wrestler Neha Rathi and shooter Rajkumari Rathore and archer Chekrovolu Swuro, who was part of the silver medal-winning team in the 2011 World Cup.
Golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar, chess player Abhijeet Gupta, billiards and snooker star Rupesh Shah, wrestler Dharmender Dalal and para-athlete Amit Kumar Saroha were also conferred the Arjuna award.
National Sports Awards are given every year to recognize and reward excellence in sports. Apart from a medal and a citation, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Awardee received a cash prize of Rs.7.5 lakh. Arjuna, Dronacharya and Dhyan Chand Awardees received statuettes, citations and cash prize of Rs.5 lakh each. Recipients of Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar were given Trophies.
List of awardees who received the National Sports Awards is as follows:
Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna: Ronjan Sodhi (shooting).
Arjuna award: Chekrovolu Swuro (archery), Renjith Maheswary (athletics), P.V. Sindhu (badminton), Kavita Chahal (boxing), Rupesh Shah (billiards and snooker), Virat Kohli (cricket), Abhijeet Gupta (chess), Gaganjeet Bhullar (golf), Saba Anjum (hockey), Rajkumari Rathore (shooting), Joshna Chinnappa (squash), Mouma Das (table tennis), Neha Rathi, Dharmender Dalal (wrestling), Amit Kumar Saroha (para-athletics).
Dronacharya award: Poornima Mahato (archery), Mahavir Singh (boxing), Narinder Singh Saini (hockey), Lifetime achievement: K.P. Thomas (athletics), Raj Singh (wrestling).
Dhyan Chand award: Mary D’Souza Sequeira (athletics), Syed Ali (hockey), Anil Mann (wrestling), Girraj Singh (para-athletics).
Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar: Community sports identification and nurturing of budding young talents: Dr. U.K. Mishra (Founder President of National Sports Academy, Allahabad); Financial Support for Sports Excellence: Services Sports Control Board; Establishment and management of sports academies of excellence: P. Gopi Chand Academy of Badminton (Hyderabad); Employment of sportspersons and sports welfare measures: Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB).
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy: Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, 2010-11; Punjabi University, Patiala, 2011-12 and 2012-13.
Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Awards 2012: Basanta Singh Roy, Major Ranveer Singh Jamwal (land adventure), Lt. Cdr. Abhilash Tomy (water adventure), Naib Subedar Parmjit Singh Sidhu (air adventure), Prem Singh and Hira Ram (lifetime achievement).
