New Delhi, Dec 21: India’s dynamic badminton duo of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy will receive the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, the highest sporting honour in the country for athletes, the sports ministry confirmed on Wednesday while announcing the annual National Sports Awards for 2023.Five coaches, including RB Ramesh who has shaped the career of chess prodigy R Praggnanandhaa, will receive the Dronacharya Award while three others have been conferred the same honour in the lifetime category. The awards will be handed by President Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on January 9.
The Khel Ratna award comes as an icing on the cake on the back of an extremely fruitful year for Chirag and Satwik. The pair earned India’s first-ever badminton gold medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games this year that underlined their medal aspirations at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Besides the historic medal, they also lifted titles at the Asian Championships, Swiss Open, Indonesia Open and Korea Open besides reaching the final of the season-ending China Masters. Their incredible year also lifted them to the top of the world rankings charts, becoming the first Indian doubles pair to get there.
In the Arjuna awards list, Shami is only one of the two cricketers, the other being blind cricketer Ajay Kumar Reddy. The 33-year-old fast bowler had an ODI World Cup to cherish at home, finishing as the top wicket-taker (24) despite missing the first four matches of the tournament where India lost in the final. Drafted into the playing XI only due to Hardik Pandyaās injury, Shami stole the show with his movement and pace and elevated the strength of India’s bowling unit.
Other Arjuna awardees include athletes Murali Sreeshankar and Parul Chaudhary, archers Aditi Swami, 17, and Ojas Pravin Deotale, shooters Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and Esha Singh, wrestlers Sunil Kumar (Greco-Roman) and Antim Panghal, paddler Ayhika Mukherjee, squash pro Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu and Roshibina Devi (wushu). All of them medalled at the Hangzhou Asian Games.
Golfer Diksha Dagar and R Vaishali, Praggnanandhaa’s sister who recently became a Grandmaster, are other notable winners. Para athletes Sheetal Devi (archery) and Prachi Yadav (canoeing) will also receive the Arjuna award.
Besides Ramesh, the Dronacharya Award will be given to Lalit Kumar (wrestling), Mahaveer Prasad Saini (para athletics), Shivendra Singh (hockey) and Ganesh Prabhakar Devrukhkar (mallakhamb). In the lifetime category, golf coach Jaskirat Singh Grewal and Bhaskaran E (kabaddi) and Jayanta Kumar Pushilal (table tennis) will be awarded.