19 sportspersons were conferred with the Arjuna Award, including Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who is currently with the Indian team on the tour to the West Indies.
Justifiably, Jadeja missed the ceremony, which was held yesterday at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.
The cricketer has sent a video message which was posted by BCCI early morning on Friday, where he thanked the Government of India for conferring him with the honour.
"First of all, I would like to thank the Government of India for conferring me with the Arjuna Award. I would also like to congratulate all the winners of the award. They've performed brilliantly in their fields," said Jadeja.
"I will always try to put my best foot forward when I play for India, and make the country proud."
Indian shuttler B. Sai Praneeth, who recently settled for bronze at the BWF World Championships ending India's 36-year wait for a medal in the men's section of the meet, track and field stars Tejinder Pal Singh Toor, Mohammed Anas and Swapna Barman, footballer Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, hockey player Chinglensana Singh Kangujam and shooter Anjum Moudgil were among the winners of the Arjuna Award.
Here's the list of full awardees:
Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award: Bajrang Punia (wrestling), Deepa Malik (para-athletics)
Dronacharya Award: Vimal Kumar (badminton), Sandeep Gupta (table tennis), Mohinder Singh Dhillon (athletics)
Dronacharya Award (life-time category): Merzban Patel (hockey), Rambir Singh Khokhar (kabaddi), Sanjay Bhardwaj (cricket)
Arjuna Award: Tajinderpal Singh Toor (athletics), Mohammad Anas Yahiya (athletics), S. Bhaskaran (body building), Sonia Lather (boxing), Ravindra Jadeja (cricket), Chinglensana Singh Kangujam (hockey), Ajay Thakur (kabaddi), Gaurav Singh Gill (motorsports), Pramod Bhagat (para-badminton), Anjum Moudgil (shooting), Harmeet Rajul Desai (table tennis), Pooja Dhanda (wrestling), Fouaad Mirza (equestrian), Gurpreet Singh Sandhu (football), Poonam Yadav (cricket), Swapna Barman (athletics), Sundar Singh Gurjar (para-athletics), Bhamidpati Sai Praneeth (badminton), Simran Shergill (polo)
Dhyanchand Award: Manuel Fredricks (hockey), Arup Basak (table tennis), Manoj Kumar (wrestling), Nitten Kirtane (tennis), C. Lalremsanga (archery)
Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Awards: Aparna Kumar (land adventure), Late Dipankar Ghosh (land adventure), Manikandan K (land adventure), Prabhat Raju Koli (water adventure), RameshwerJangra (air adventure)
Lifetime achievement award: Wangchuk Sherpa
Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar: Go Sports Foundation; Gagan Narang Sports Promotion Foundation (GNSPF); Rayalaseema Development Trust
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy: Punjab University, Chandigar
