Hyderabad:Double-Olympic medalist Manu Bhaker, World Chess Champion D Gukesh, Indian men's hockey team captain Harmanpreet Singh and Paralympian Praveen Kumar are to be honoured with the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award on January 17. President of India, Droupadi Murmu will honour the players with the award in a ceremony to be held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.
The Sports ministry made the announcement through their ‘X’ handle.
"Based on the recommendations of the Committee and after due scrutiny, Government has decided to confer awards upon the following sportspersons, coaches, university and entity," the ministry said in a statement
The sports ministry also revealed the list of Arjuna Awardees which includes 32 athletes with the inclusion of 17 para-athletes.
Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award 2024
S. No.
Name of the Sportsperson
Discipline
1.
Shri Gukesh D
Chess
2.
Shri Harmanpreet Singh
Hockey
3.
Shri Praveen Kumar
Para-Athletics
4.
Ms. Manu Bhaker
Shooting
Arjuna Awards for outstanding performance in Sports and Games 2024
S. No.
Name of the Sportsperson
Discipline
Ms. Jyothi Yarraji
Athletics
2.
Ms. Annu Rani
Athletics
3.
Ms. Nitu
Boxing
4.
Ms. Saweety
Boxing
5.
Ms. Vantika Agrawal
Chess
6.
Ms. Salima Tete
Hockey
7.
Shri Abhishek
Hockey
8.
Shri Sanjay
Hockey
9.
Shri Jarmanpreet Singh
Hockey
10.
Shri Sukhjeet Singh
Hockey
11.
Shri Rakesh Kumar
Para-Archery
12.
Ms. Preeti Pal
Para-Athletics
13.
Ms. Jeevanji Deepthi
Para-Athletics
14.
Shri Ajeet Singh
Para-Athletics
15.
Shri Sachin Sarjerao Khilari
Para-Athletics
16.
Shri Dharambir
Para-Athletics
17.
Shri Pranav Soorma
Para-Athletics
17.
Shri H Hokato Sema
Para-Athletics
18.
Ms. Simran
Para-Athletics
19.
Shri Navdeep
Para-Athletics
20.
Shri Nitesh Kumar
Para-Badminton
21.
Ms. Thulasimathi Murugesan
Para-Badminton
22.
Ms. Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan
Para-Badminton
23.
Ms. Manisha Ramadass
Para-Badminton
24.
Shri Kapil Parmar
Para-Judo
25.
Ms. Mona Agarwal
Para-Shooting
26.
Ms. Rubina Francis
Para-Shooting
27.
Shri Swapnil Suresh Kusale
Shooting
28.
Shri Sarabjot Singh
Shooting
29.
Shri Abhay Singh
Squash
30.
Shri Sajan Prakash
Swimming
31.
Shri Aman
Wrestling
There was a lot of talk around Manu's nomination for the Khel Ratna awards as some media reports claimed that she was snubbed from the nominations. However, the star Indian shooter later stated there was some lapse on her part while filing the nomination and it is being corrected.
Bhaker became the first Indian athlete to win two medals in a single Olympic edition bagging bronze in the 10m air pistol individual and 10m air pistol mixed team as well. Harmanpreet captained the Indian hockey team to a bronze medal in the 2024 Olympics.
18-year-old Gukesh became the youngest player to win the World Chess Championship recently and also played a key role in helping the Indian team to win a gold medal in the Chess Olympiad. Para high-jumper Praveen dished out a stellar performance in the T64 classification which is for the athletes who have both legs missing below the knee and rely on prosthetic leg for running.
To be eligible for the Khel Ratna Award, the performance of an athlete over four years is considered for his selection.
