Hyderabad: Indian cricketer Rohit Sharma, para-athlete Mariappan Thangavelu, table tennis champion Manika Batra, wrestler Vinesh Phogat and women’s hockey team captain Rani Rampal will get Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award.
Meanwhile, cricketers Ishant Sharma and Deepti Sharma, athlete Dutee Chand, shooter Manu Bhaker are among 27 sportspersons who will be conferred with Arjuna Award.
The decision has come after the National Sports Awards selection committee met at the Sports Authority of India headquarters in New Delhi on Tuesday to pick the awardees for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Arjuna and other national sports awards.
Indian opener Rohit Sharma has become the only fourth cricketer after Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli to be conferred with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award. Former batsman Tendulkar was the first Indian cricketer to win the Khel Ratna Award in 1998. Dhoni won the award in 2007 after leading India to the 2007 World T20 victory while Virat Kohli won the award along with weightlifter Mirabai Chanu in 2018.
Meanwhile, Vinesh Phogat has been rewarded for winning the Asian Games gold medal in 2018 and Manika Batra for winning the Commonwealth Games gold medal and Asian Games bronze in women's singles.
Para-athlete Mariyappan got the award for the gold medal that he won in the 2016 Rio Paralympics, in T42 high jump. India women's hockey team captain Rani has, meanwhile, become only the third hockey player and first female hockey player to win the award.
Full list of Sports awards:
1. RAJIV GANDHI KHEL RATNA AWARD
- Rohit Sharma (Cricket)
- Mariyappan T. (Para-Athletics)
- Manika Batra (Table Tennis)
- Vinesh Phogat (Wrestling)
- Rani Rampal (Hockey)
2. DRONACHARYA AWARD Life- Time Category
- Dharmendra Tiwary (Archery)
- Purushotham Rai (Athletics)
- Shiv Singh (Boxing)
- Romesh Pathania (Hockey)
- Krishan Kumar Hooda (Kabaddi)
- Vijay Bhalchandra Munishwar (Para Powerlifting)
- Naresh Kumar (Tennis)
- Om Parkash Dahiya (Wrestling)
3. ARJUNA AWARD
- Atanu Das (Archery)
- Dutee Chand (Athletics)
- Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy (Badminton)
- Chirag Chandrasekhar Shetty (Badminton)
- Vishesh Bhriguvanshi (Basketball)
- Manish Kaushik (Boxing)
- Lovlina Borgohain (Boxing)
- Ishant Sharma (Cricket)
- Deepti Sharma (Cricket)
- Sawant Ajay Anant (Equestrian)
- Sandesh Jhingan (Football)
- Aditi Ashok (Golf)
- Akashdeep Singh (Hockey)
- Deepika (Hockey)
- Deepak (Kabaddi)
- Kale Sarika Sudhakar (Kho Kho)
- Dattu Baban Bhokanal (Rowing)
- Manu Bhaker (Shooting)
- Saurabh Chaudhary (Shooting)
- Madhurika Suhas Patkar (Table Tennis)
- Divij Sharan (Tennis)
- Shiva Keshavan (Winter Sports)
- Divya Kakran (Wrestling)
- Rahul Aware (Wrestling)
- Suyash Narayan Jadhav (Para-Swimming)
- Sandeep (Para-Athletics)
- Manish Narwal (Para Shooting)
4. DHYANCHAND AWARD
- Kuldip Singh Bhullar (Athletics)
- Jincy Philips (Athletics)
- Pradeep Shrikrishna Gandhe (Badminton)
- Trupti Murugunde (Badminton)
- N. Usha (Boxing)
