New Delhi: Ace cricketer Virat Kohli sent the shutterbugs into a clicking frenzy at the Rashtrapati Bhawan here Tuesday, as he received the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award. He shared the country’s highest sporting honour with diminutive weightlifting World Champion Mirabai Chanu. Star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra and junior World Champion sprinter Hima Das were among the 20 sportspersons who received the Arjuna Awards from President Ram Nath Kovind here.
Kohli was accompanied by wife Anushka Sharma; his mother Saroj and his elder brother Vikas at the ceremony. He is the third cricketer to be honoured with the Khel Ratna after Sachin Tendulkar (1997-1998) and former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (2007). Kohli received the Arjuna in 2013 and the Padma Shri last year.
Sharing the top honours with him was Chanu, who had received the Padma Shri earlier this year. She was chosen for the Khel Ratna following her gold medal in 48kg category at the World Weightlifting Championships last year. She also bagged the yellow metal in this year’s CWG but didn’t compete at the Asian Games due to injury.
Besides Khel Ratna and Arjuna awards, the President also gave away Dronacharya and Dhyan Chand awards to coaches, the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Awards, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy and Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar.
The awards, like every year, copped a fair share of controversies with wrestler Bajrang Punia’s threat to take legal action over Khel Ratna snub being the most prominent one. Prior to that, the Sports Ministry struck off compound archery coach Jiwanjot Singh Teja’s name from the list of Dronacharya awardees due to a past case of indiscipline.
List of Awardees:
Khel Ratna: Virat Kohli (Cricket), Mirabai Chanu (Weightlifting).
Arjuna: Neeraj Chopra, Jinson Johnson, Hima Das (All Athletics), N Sikki Reddy (Badminton), Satish Kumar (Boxing), Smriti Mandhana (Cricket), Shubhankar Sharma (Golf), Manpreet Singh, Savita (Both Hockey), Ravi Rathore (Polo), Rahi Sarnobat, Ankur Mittal, Shreyasi Singh (All Shooting), Manika Batra, G Sathiyan (Both Table Tennis), Rohan Bopanna (Tennis), Sumit (Wrestling), Pooja Kadian (Wushu), Ankur Dhama (Para-Athletics), Manoj Sarkar (Para Badminton)
Dronacharya: CA Kuttappa (Boxing), Vijay Sharma (Weightlifting), A Srinivasa Rao, Sukhdev Singh Pannu (Athletics), Clarence Lobo (Hockey, Lifetime), Tarak Sinha (Cricket, Lifetime), Jiwan Kumar Sharma (Judo, Lifetime), and VR Beedu (Athletics, Lifetime).
Dhyan Chand Awards: Satyadev Prasad (Archery), Bharat Kumar Chetry (Hockey), Bobby Aloysius (Athletics) and Chougale Dadu Dattatray (Wrestling).
