Arjuna Award is an honour bestowed by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports to recognise the achievement of athletes.
Team India cricketer Ishant Sharma and Deepti Sharma, who are among the 27 athletes who will be conferred with Arjuna Award for 2020, have expressed their delight over the prestigious moment.
Among other athletes, who will receive Arjuna Award are: Atanu Das (archery), Chirag Chandrasekhar Shetty (badminton), Vishesh Bhriguvanshi (basketball), Subedar Manish Kaushik and Lovlina Bograhain (boxing), Deepti Sharma (cricket), Sawant Ajay Anant (Equestrian), Sandesh Jhingan (football), Aditi Ashok (golf), Akashdeep Singh and Deepika (hockey), Deepak (kabaddi), Kale Sarika Sudhakar (kho kho), Dattu Baban Bhokanal (rowing), and Saurabh Chaudhary (Shooting), Madhurika Suhas Patkar (table tennis), Divij Sharan (Tennis), Divya Kakran and Rahul Aware (Wresting), Shiva Keshavan (Winter Sports), Suyash Narayan Jadhav (Para Swimming), Sandeep (para athletics) and Manish Narwal (Para shooting).
On Monday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) took to Twitter and shared a video of both Ishant and Deepti expressing their thoughts on being award with the Arjuna award.
1. A happy camper!
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"I am very happy, it is a proud moment for me that I will be conferred with the Arjuna Award. Everyone in my family is very happy, I have worked very hard from the very start, being conferred with Arjuna Award has always been a dream," Deepti Sharma said in a video posted by the official handle of BCCI.
"Mithali Di, Harmanpreet Di, Jhulan Di have also been given this honour earlier, so being in their company is a very big thing," she added.
It is an honour be on the Arjuna Award winners’ list that features some of the greats of #TeamIndia. I had worked extremely hard to for this award and this is a proud moment for my family and me: @Deepti_Sharma06 pic.twitter.com/BncFLg37zz
— BCCI (@BCCI) August 24, 2020
2. Deepti Sharma's impressive record!
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Arjuna Award is an honour bestowed by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports to recognise the achievement of athletes.
The award carries a cash prize, a bronze statue of Arjuna and a scroll.
Deepti Sharma has so far played 54 ODIs and 48 T20Is.
In ODIs, she has taken 64 wickets and has managed to score 1,417 runs at an average of 38.29.
In the shortest format, Deepti has taken 53 wickets and has registered 423 runs at an average of 18.39.
3. Ishant on winning the Arjuna Award
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While Ishant Sharma said it is a proud moment for him and his family after the cricketer was named in the recipients of the 2020 Arjuna Awardee list.
"When I got to know that I was getting the Arjuna Award, I was really happy, feeling proud of myself. In the last 13 years, I did a lot of hard work."
"It is a proud moment for me and my family. More than me, my wife is really proud of me because she is the one who really thinks that I should get that award," Ishant said in a video posted by the BCCI's official Twitter handle.
'A proud moment for me and my family,' @ImIshant on winning the Arjuna Award for 2020.#TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/VbVdWN0qWE
— BCCI (@BCCI) August 24, 2020
4. 'We prepared really well'
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Talking about the team's mindset and game planning he said, "Mindset of team India's bowling unit is that we always think how to win a game, that is the most important thing for us. We do not think about individual wickets, we try to read the situation and plan accordingly.
"We prepared really well and planned according to every batsman. We try and execute those things in the ground and things happen for us."
Ishant is regarded as the vital cog of the Indian Test bowling line-up. The speedster has been in great touch in the recent longest format series.
The 31-year-old right-arm pacer has played 97 Tests and bagged 297 wickets at an average of 32.39.
Ishant is just short of three wickets to join the 300-wicket club in the Test cricket. He has played 80 ODIs and scalped 115 wickets at an average of 30.98.
5. Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award!
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Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma is amongst 4 other sports personalities who will be prested with the 2020 Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award. Other than Rohit, table tennis star Manika Batra, India hockey women's skipper Rani Rampal, Asian Games gold medalist Vinesh Phogat and Paralympic gold medalist Mariappan Thangavelu will also be crowned with India's highest sporting honour.
While Rohit has been recognized for his accomplishments with the bat, Vinesh has been in the eye for her gold medals in the 2018 Commonwealth and Asian Games. She had even won bronze in the 2019 Asian Wrestling Championships.
Also, Dharmendra Tiwary (archery), Purushotham Rai (athletics), Shiv Singh ( boxing), Romesh Pathania ( hockey), Krishan Kumar Hooda (kabaddi), Vijay Bhalchandra Munishwar (para powerlifting), Naresh Kumar (tennis), and Om Parkash Dahiya (wrestling) will receive Dronacharya Lifetime award.
Yogesh Malviya (Mallakhamb), Jaspal Rana (Shooting), Kuldeep Kumar Handoo (Wushu), and Gaurav Khanna (Para Badminton) will be conferred with Dronacharya Award in the regular category.
