New Delhi: Star athlete Neeraj Chopra, who created history in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics by winning a gold medal with his javelin and wrestler Ravi Dahiya, who won a silver medal in the same event, are among 11 athletes who have been nominated for the Khel Ratna award 2021, news agency PTI reported. Boxer Lovlina Borgohain, hockey player P Sreejesh and women's cricketer Mithali Raj have also been nominated for Khel Ratna award for the year 2021.
35 athletes have been nominated for the Arjuna Award. Men's hockey team will receive Arjuna award after creating history in Tokyo Olympics by securing a bronze medal.
Athletes selected for Khel Ratna include Neeraj Chopra, Ravi Dahiya, hockey goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, football captain Sunil Chhetri, women's cricketer Mithali Raj, women's boxer Lovlina Borgohain, para badminton players Pramod Bhagat, Sumit Antil, Avani Lekhra, Krishna Nagar and Manish Narwal.
List of 11 athletes who have been nominated for the 'Khel Ratna' award 2021:
Neeraj Chopra (Athletics)
Ravi Dahiya (Wrestling)
PR Sreejesh (Hockey)
Lovlina Borgohain (boxing)
Sunil Chhetri (Football)
Mithali Raj (Cricket)
Pramod Bhagat (Badminton)
Sumit Antil (spear)
Avani Lekhara (Shooting)
Krishna Nagar (Badminton)
M Narwal (Shooting)
The National Sports Awards are presented by the President every year on August 19, on birthday of Major Dhyan Chand, but this time around the announcement was delayed in order to consider the performance of the para-athletes.
Arjuna Award winners from hockey team: Harmanpreet Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Surender Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Birendra Lakra, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Nilakanta Sharma, Sumit, Shamsher Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Gurjant Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, and Mandeep Singh.
Dronacharya Award has been awarded to Radhakrishna Nair, TP Ouseph, Sandeep Sangwan among others.