Sportspersons who have performed best for India were honored with National Sports Awards by President Draupadi Murmu at a function at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here today. Meanwhile, 26 sportspersons including cricketer Mohammad Shami and para archer Sheetal Devi were given Arjuna awards. Badminton duo Chirag Shetty and Satviksairaj Rankireddy have been selected for the prestigious Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award. The pair won their own and the country’s first gold medal in badminton at the 2023 Asian Games. The pair is currently playing in the Malaysia Open Super 1000, so did not attend the event. Star pistol shooter 19-year-old Isha Singh could not attend the event as she was participating in the Asian Olympic Qualifier in Jakarta. He has qualified for Paris Olympics by winning gold medal in individual and team competition in 10 meter air pistol competition yesterday. India’s impressive performance at last year’s Asian Games with a record 107 medals was reflected in the event as most of the awardees were Hangzhou Games medalists. When Sheetal, who won three gold medals at the Hangzhou Asian Para Games, arrived to receive her Arjuna award, the hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan erupted in applause. This 16-year-old para shooter is missing both hands and is the first international para archer to shoot archery without hands. Similarly, Shami, who is recovering from an ankle injury, was present at the event to receive the award. He played an important role in taking India to the final in the ODI World Cup last year by taking 25 wickets in seven matches. Meanwhile, R Vaishali, who recently became a chess grandmaster, was honored with the Arjuna Award. That Star Grandmaster R. is the elder sister of Pragnananda. Other sportspersons selected for the Arjuna award this year include wrestlers Nihil Panghal (wrestler), Mohammad Hussamuddin (boxer), Parul Chaudhary (athlete), Ojas Praveen Deotale (archery), Aditi Gopichand Swamy (archery), Murali Sreesankar (athletics), Anush Aggarwal (Equestrian), Divyakriti Singh (Equestrian), Diksha Dagar (Golf), Krishna Bahadur Pathak (Hockey), Sushila Chanu (Hockey), Pawan Kumar (Kabaddi), Ritu Negi (Kabaddi), Nasreen (Kho-Kho), Pinky (Lawn Ball), Aishwarya Pratap Singh Tomar (Shooting), Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (Squash), Ahika Mukherjee (Table Tennis), Sunil Kumar (Wrestling), Naurem Roshibina Devi (Wushu), Iluri Ajay Kumar Reddy (Blind Cricket). and Prachi Yadav (Para Canoeing).
Shami won the Arjuna Award, Chirag Rankireddy won the Kyle Ratna Award
