National Sports Day: Sardar Singh, Devendra Jhajharia receive Khel Ratna from President Kovind

Former hockey captain Sardar Singh and Paralympian Devendra Jhajharia received their Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awards on Tuesday. In a ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, President of India Ram Nath Kovind conferred the prestigious awards to mark the National Sports Day. 

National Sports Day is celebrated on the birth anniversary of hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand. 

Seventeen athletes from a variety of sports in India were honoured with Arjuna Awards, while seven coached were facilitated with Dronacharya awards. Bhupender Singh, Syed Shahid Hakim and Sumarai Tete received the Dhyan Chand awards for a lifetime of service towards sports.

Late Dr. R. Gandhi (Athletics), Heera Nand Kataria (Kabaddi), GSSV Prasad (Badminton-lifetime), Brij Bhushan Mohanty (Boxing – Lifetime), P.A. Raphel (Hockey – Lifetime), Sanjoy Chakraverthy (Shooting – Lifetime), Roshan Lal (Wrestling – Lifetime) were the coaches to receive the Dronacharya awards.

Cheteshwar Pujara, Harmanpreet Kaur, Mariyappan Thangavelu, Varun Bhati, SSP Chawrasia, Saketh Myneni, Khusbir Kaur, Aarokiya Rajiv, Prashanti Singh, SV Sunil, Satyawrat Kadian, Anthony Amalraj, PN Prakash, Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Jasvir Singh, Devendro Singh and Bembem Devi have been selected for the Arjuna Awards this year.

However, Pujara missed the ceremony due to his commitment to Nottinghamshire County Cricket.

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