MS Dhoni and Pankaj Advani lead the way as sportspersons shine at the Padma awards 

What's the story?

The Central Government on Thursday announced the list of names for the prestigious Padma Awards to be awarded in 2018. Among the awardees were a number of eminent sporting personalities whose achievements in the field of sports have been greatly beneficial to the country and brought immense pride to the nation.

The illustrious Padma Bhushan award went to Billiards and Snooker star Pankaj Advani for his tremendous contributions in the field for a continued period of time. Joining him in the elite list of Padma Bhushan awardees is former Indian cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni under whose leadership India lifted the World Cup on home soil. Several other sports personalities were awarded at the ceremony.

In case you didn't know...

The government of India announced a total of 85 Padma awardees at the ceremony that included three Padma Vibhushan, nine Padma Bhushan and 73 Padma Shri awards across several areas of work.

The heart of the matter

Apart from the Padma Bhushan, there were the Padma Shri awards handed out as well, for exceptional performance in a particular field of work. Here too, sportspersons were prevalent with Saikom Mirabai Chanu winning the award for her brilliant effort in winning Gold at the World Weightlifting Championships.

Former Tennis player Somdev Devvarman also won the award for his outstanding work in the sport and another award was presented to India's first Paralympic Gold medallist, Murlikant Petkar, who won at the 1972 German Paralympics.

What's next?

On the eve of Republic Day, the government honoured these capable heroes and will continue to do so every year as is the norm.

Author's take

These men and women are the pride of the nation and have yet again proved how important sports is in the realm of the world. India truly salutes these heroes for serving the nation.