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
➡️ @YASMinistry announces #NationalSportsAwards 2024
— PIB India (@PIB_India) January 2, 2025
➡️ President of India to give away Awards on 17th January 2025
➡️ ‘Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award’ is given for the spectacular and most outstanding performance in the field of sports by a sportsperson over the period of… pic.twitter.com/nRY3nsleOY
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.
— Manu Bhaker🇮🇳 (@realmanubhaker) December 24, 2024
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.
