The first footballer to be conferred with the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, Indian maestro Sunil Chhetri on Wednesday said the journey that he has been through in the last 16 years has been nothing short of a dream.
Named for the prestigious Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna after winning a historic gold in the Tokyo Olympics, star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra said.
Manpreet was originally recommended for the Arjuna award but he joined veteran goalkeeper PR Sreejesh as the second hockey player in the list of awardees for the highest sporting honour.
A decision that will benefit the likes of boxer Amit Panghal, whose 'inadvertent' violation in 2012 has denied him a shot at the honours.
Jhajharia won a silver medal at the recent Tokyo Games, adding to the two gold medals he had won in the 2004 and 2016 editions.
Following is the list of National Sports Award winners for the year 2020.
Rijiju made this announcement on the occasion of the 115th birth anniversary of hockey legend Dhyan Chand, which is also celebrated as National Sports Day.
Currently, the Khel Ratna comes with a cash prize of Rs 7.5 lakh, while the Arjuna awardees get Rs 5 lakh.
The National Sports Day is celebrated on August 29, the birth anniversary of hockey wizard Dhyan Chand.
Just like last year, the ministry opted for a single selection committee to pick the awardees among both athletes and coaches and it will be headed by Retired Supreme Court Justice, Mukundakam Sharma.
The relaxation offers a window of opportunities for those athletes who have neither been shortlisted by their national sports federations nor got the backing of previous awardees.
The last date for filing the nominations for national sports awards is June 3.
The ministry generally invites the nominations for the awards in April while the ceremony to confer them is held on August 29 on the occasion of National Sports Day celebrated to mark the birth anniversary of hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand.
In a series of tweets, the Prime Minister congratulated all the athletes and coaches who have been conferred with the awards.
They were bestowed with the award in a ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The National Awardees came together to reply to their fans in on a variety of subjects.
New Delh: With a Khel Ratna missing for the first time in two decades, President Pranab Mukherjee gave away the National Sports Awards during a ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here Friday.For the first
New Delhi: Intense lobbying for getting female discus thrower Krishna Poonia the Khel Ratna, the highest sports award, delayed the scheduled announcement of the national sports awards here on Tuesday.The ministry was supposed to make
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