Delhi: India's best-performing athletes were on Tuesday conferred with the national sports awards by President Droupadi Murmu in a regal ceremony where shuttlers Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, along with cricketer Mohammed Shami, walked into rapturous applause at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.
Indian shuttlers Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy received the prestigious Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award for their exceptional achievements in Badminton. The duo bagged the gold medal in the Hangzhou Asian Games and achieved the pinnacle of Badminton World Federation (BWF) Rankings last year, would be aiming for an Olympic medal in Paris, having all but sealed qualification for the global showpiece later this year by being world No.2.
"It is the first award won by an Indian badminton pair. I hope that it will inspire other youngsters to pick rackets and adopt the sport as a profession. Also, this achievement will motivate the other players to make their mark in the world of badminton and bring some more awards," Chirag told ETV Bharat moments after the Union Sports Ministry announced the National Awards.
"Very happy to be honoured with the Khel Ratna Award. It is a great feeling and that will motivate us to do well in the upcoming years. We want to perform at our best in the Olympics but don't want to burden ourselves with the pressure of a victory. We will learn from our experience and will improve upon it " Satwik stated in an exclusive chat with ETV Bharat.
India's pace spearhead Mohammed Shami was honoured for his extraordinary performance in the ICC Men's ODI Cricket World Cup 2023, becoming the highest wicket-taker of the tournament with 24 wickets in just seven matches. He also became India's overall highest wicket taker, surpassing veteran pacer Zaheer Khan's 44 wickets in the elite tournament. In 18 WC matches, Shami has taken 55 wickets at an average of 13.52 and a strike rate of 15.81, with the best figures of 7/57.
Grandmaster R Vaishali, the elder sister of precocious chess talent R Praggnanandhaa received a huge round of applause and was honoured for becoming the only third female from the country after Koneru Humpy and Dronavalli Harika to turn GM.
Shital Devi, who was felicitated with the Arjuna Award, became the first para archer without upper limbs to clinch two gold medals in the continental tournament in 2023.
Among the notable Dronacharya awardees, this year is chess coach RB Ramesh, who has groomed Praggnanandhaa.
Other sporting bigwigs, who were chosen for the Arjuna award this year, were wrestler Antim Panghal, a former junior world champion and bronze medal winner at the senior event last year and boxer Mohammad Hussamuddin (bronze medal winner at last year's world championship).
The Khel Ratna Award comes with a prize money of ₹25 lakhs while the Arjuna and Dronacharya Awards include a cash prize of ₹15 lakhs.
The national sports awards ceremony, which usually happens on August 29 to mark the birth anniversary of hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand, but was deferred because of the Hangzhou Asian Games which were held from September 23 to October 8, 2023. An atmosphere of gaiety pervaded the Rashtrapati Bhawan as 26 athletes and para-athletes were conferred the Arjuna Awards.
The recipients (2023 awards):
Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award for 2023: Chirag Shetty and Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy (badminton).
Arjuna Awards: Ojas Pravin Deotale (archery), Aditi Gopichand Swami (archery), Murali Sreeshankar (athletics), Parul Chaudhary (athletics), Mohammad Hussamuddin (boxing), R Vaishali (chess), Mohammed Shami (cricket), Anush Agarwalla (equestrian), Divyakriti Singh (equestrian dressage), Diksha Dagar (golf), Krishan Bahadur Pathak (hockey), Sushila Chanu (hockey), Pawan Kumar (kabaddi), Ritu Negi (kabaddi), Nasreen (kho-kho), Pinki (lawn bowls), Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar (shooting), Esha Singh (shooting), Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (squash), Ayhika Mukherjee (table tennis), Sunil Kumar (wrestling), Antim Panghal (wrestling), Naorem Roshibina Devi (wushu), Sheetal Devi (para archery), Illuri Ajay Kumar Reddy (blind cricket), Prachi Yadav (para canoeing).
Dronacharya Award (regular category) for outstanding coaches: Lalit Kumar (wrestling), RB Ramesh (chess), Mahaveer Prasad Saini (para athletics), Shivendra Singh (hockey), Ganesh Prabhakar Devrukhkar (Mallakhamb).
Dronacharya Award (Lifetime category) for outstanding coaches: Jaskirat Singh Grewal (golf), Bhaskaran E (kabaddi), Jayanta Kumar Pushilal (table tennis).
Dhyan Chand Award for lifetime achievement: Manjusha Kanwar (badminton), Vineet Kumar Sharma (hockey) and Kavitha Selvaraj (kabaddi).
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy 2023: Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar (overall winner university); Lovely Professional University, Punjab (1st runner-up), Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra (2nd runner-up).
Read More
- Chirag Shetty, Satwik honoured with Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award; Mohammed Shami bags Arjuna Award
- ETV Bharat exclusive | 'Big honour': Chirag Shetty-Satwik Sai Raj on Khel Ratna award
- ETV Bharat exclusive| I insisted Chirag's parents to let him take up badminton as a profession, reveals his coach Uday Pawar
