Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty to receive Khel Ratna Award; Sports Ministry names 26 sportsperson for Arjuna Award

The Sports Ministry confirmed the nominations of ace Indian badminton men's doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty for the prestigious Khel Ratna award (highest sporting honour of India). Twenty-six other sportspersons have been awarded with Arjuna award, as announced on Wednesday, December 20.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have raised the bar for Indian badminton. They paired together in 2016, thanks to the then-Malaysian coach Tan Kim Her. The duo has won many medals such as the World Badminton Championships (bronze), Commonwealth Games (silver), and Asian Games (gold) en route to the world No.1 ranking.

The considerable list of Arjuna awardees includes hockey players Krishan Bahadur Pathak and Sushila Chanu, and young compound archers Ojas Pravin Deotale and Aditi Gopichand Swami.

Shooters Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and Esha Singh and golfer Diksha Dagar, squash player Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu are also included in the list. Shess player R Vaishali, table tennis player Ayhika Mukheerje, and Indian cricketer Mohammed Shami are also among many others chosen for the award.

Almost every aforementioned athlete has won a medal at the Asian Games in Hangzhou this year. A government panel had nominated all the athletes for the distinguished awards.

Apart from the players, five coaches were named for the Dronacharya Award in the regular category and three in the lifetime category.

When and where will the award ceremony take place?

The national sports awards are bestowed every year to players and coaches from different spheres of sports to recognize and celebrate their highest level of achievements.

India President Droupadi Murmu will present the honours to all the awardees on January 9, 2024, at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.

List of National Sports Award Winners 2023

Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty (Badminton)

Arjuna Awards: Ojas Pravin Deotale (archery), Aditi Gopichand Swami (archery), Murali Sreeshankar (athletics), Parul Chaudhary (athletics), Mohammad Hussamuddin (boxing), R Vaishali (chess), Mohammed Shami (cricket), Anush Agarwalla (equestrian), Divyakriti Singh (equestrian dressage), Diksha Dagar (golf), Krishan Bahadur Pathak (hockey), Sushila Chanu (hockey), Pawan Kumar (kabaddi), Ritu Negi (kabaddi), Nasreen Shaikh (kho-kho), Pinki Singh (lawn bowls), Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar (shooting), Esha Singh (shooting), Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (squash), Ayhika Mukherjee (table tennis), Sunil Kumar (wrestling), Antim Panghal (wrestling), Naorem Roshibina Devi (wushu), Sheetal Devi (para archery), Illuri Ajay Kumar Reddy (blind cricket), Prachi Yadav (para canoeing)

Dronacharya Award (regular category)

Lalit Kumar (wrestling), RB Ramesh (chess), Mahaveer Prasad Saini (para athletics), Shivendra Singh (hockey), Ganesh Prabhakar Devrukhkar (mallakhamb)

Dronacharya Award (life-time category)

Jaskirat Singh Grewal (golf), Bhaskaran E (kabaddi), Jayanta Kumar Pushilal (table tennis)

Dhyan Chand Award (lifetime achievement)

Manjusha Kanwar (badminton), Vineet Kumar Sharma (hockey), Kavitha Selvaraj (kabaddi).