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Indian men's kabaddi captain Pawan Kumar Sehrawat was honored with the Arjuna award on Tuesday, January 9 by Indian President Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.
Sehrawat was one of 26 athletes, who were conferred the Arjuna award by the Sports Ministry of India for achieving excellence in the field of sports.
Sehrawat led India to their eighth gold medal in the men's kabaddi event at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, last year. The skipper led from the front with 42 points in six matches.
The 27-year-old was granted the Arjuna Award for his achievements in the field of Kabaddi in 2023. The video of Pawan Sehrawat walking to the dais to receive the prestigious award was shared by his Pro Kabaddi franchise Telugu Titans on social media.
Here's the video:
India women's team captain Ritu Negi was also the recipient of the Arjuna award after she led the national team to their third gold medal at the continental event. Pawan and Ritu add to the count of 40 Kabaddi players from the country to get the esteemed recognition.
Who were the other athletes to win Arjuna Award alongside Pawan Sehrawat?
India saw record-breaking medal hauls at both the Asian Games (107) and the Asian Para Games (111) last year. While 23 athletes were picked from the able-bodied category, three were nominated from the special category.
Sensational para-archer Sheetal Devi (first female armless archer), para-canoer Prachi Yadav, and India men's blind cricket team captain Ajay Kumar Reddy were awarded for excellence in sports.
Indian cricketer Mohammed Shami also received the Arjuna Award.
Hockey players Krishan Bahadur Pathak and Sushila Chanu, archers Ojas Pravin Deotale and Aditi Gopichand Swami, wrestlers Sunil Kumar and Antim Panghal, athletes Murali Sreeshankar and Parul Chaudhary, shooters Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and Esha Singh, and equestrians Anush Agarwalla and Divyakriti Singh also received the award.
Meanwhile, R Vaishali (chess), Diksha Dagar (golf), Nasreen Shaikh (kho-kho), Pinki Singh (lawn bowls), Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (squash) and Ayhika Mukherjee (table tennis) were the lone recipients of the Arjuna Award from their respective sports.
Only Esha Singh, who is currently participating in the Asian Olympic Qualifier (for shooting) in Jakarta, was not present at the awards ceremony. Indian men's doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were nominated for the Khel Ratna Award (the highest sporting honor in the country). However, the duo remained absent because of their participation in the ongoing Malaysia Open in Kuala Lumpur.
