President Kovind honoured leading sportspersons across multiple sporting disciplines with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, Arjuna Award, Dronacharya Award, Dhyan Chand Award, Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award and Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar.
Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju and several other dignitaries attended the ceremony from Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi. For the first time in the history of the National Sports Awards, the ceremony was conducted virtually.
The awardees attended the ceremony from various places across the country with SAI designated centres like Bengaluru, Pune, Sonepat, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Lucknow, Delhi, Mumbai, Bhopal, Hyderabad and Itanagar. The Ceremony was broadcast live on AIR News and Doordarshan.
Before the ceremony, Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju paid floral tributes to hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand at his statue and portrait at Dhyan Chand Stadium in New Delhi.
President Ram Nath Kovind made a note of the fact that that three of the five Khel Ratna awardees namely, hockey player Rani Rampal, paddler Manika Batra and wrestler Vinesh Phogat are female athletes.
An unprecedented five India athletes – cricketer Rohit Sharma, wrestler Vinesh Phogat, para athlete Mariyappan Thangavelu, women’s hockey team captain Rani Rampal, and paddler Manika Batra – were virtually conferred with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award.
The prize money in four of the seven categories of the National Sports and Adventure Awards has been enhanced. Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju announced the enhancement on the occasion of the National Sports Day today. The prize money for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award has been increased to 25 lakh rupees from the previous amount of 7.5 lakh rupees.
Here is the full list of National Sports Awardees on the National Sports Day
Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award
Rohit Sharma (Cricket), Vinesh Phogat (Wrestling), Mariyappan Thangavelu (Para Athletics), Rani Rampal (Hockey), Manika Batra (Table Tennis)
Arjuna Award
Manu Bhaker (Shooting), Dutee Chand (Athletics), Sawant Ajay Anant (Equestrian), Sandesh Jhingan (Football), Aditi Ashok (Golf), Akashdeep Singh (Hockey), Deepika (Hockey), Deepak (Kabaddi), Kale Sarika Sudhakar (Kho Kho), Divya Kakran (Wrestling), Rahul Aware (Wrestling), Suyash Narayan Jadhav (Para Swimming), Sandeep Para (Athletics) Manish Narwal (Para Shooting), Dattu Baban Bhokanal (Rowing), Saurabh Chaudhary (Shooting), Divij Sharan (Tennis), Madhurika Suhas Patkar (Table Tennis).
Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award
Col. Sarfraz Singh, Taka Tamut, Late Maagan Bissa, Asnita Devi, Keval Hiren Kakka and Satendra Singh being awarded the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award.
Dronacharya Award
Dharmendra Tiwary (Archery), Purushotham Rai (Athletics), Shiv Singh (Boxing), Romesh Pathania (Hockey), Krishan Kumar Hooda (Kabaddi), Vijay Bhalchandra Munishwar (Para Powerlifting), Naresh Kumar (Tennis), Om Parkash Dahiya (Wrestling).
Dhyan Chand Award
Kuldip Singh Bhullar (Athletics), Trupti Murgunde (Badminton), N. Usha (Boxing), Ajit Singh (Hockey), Manpreet Singh (Kabaddi), J. Ranjith Kumar (Para Athletics), Satyaprakash Tiwari (Para Badminton), Manjeet Singh (Rowing), Late Shri Sachin Nag (Swimming), Nandan P Bal (Tennis), Netarpal Hooda (Wrestling), Lakha Singh (Boxing), Sukhvinder Singh Sandhu (Football), Jincy Philips (Athletics), Pradeep Shrikrishna Gandhe (Badminton)
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy
Punjab University has been awarded the prestigious Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy.
Arjuna Award has been enhanced to 15 lakh rupees from 5 lakh. The Dhronacharya (Lifetime) awardees, who were earlier given 5 lakh rupees will now be given 15 lakh rupees as cash prize, while Dhronacharya (Regular) will be given 10 lakh instead of 5 lakh rupees per awardee. Dhyanchand Awardees will be given 10 lakh rupees instead of 5 lakh rupees.