New Delhi: Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli and weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu received the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, the highest sporting honour in the country, on Tuesday.
President Ram Nath Kovind presented the National Sports and Adventure Awards at a function held at Rashtrapati Bhavan here today.
Virat Kohli was conferred the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award for the year 2018 in recognition of his outstanding achievements in the sport of cricket. Kohli is the third cricketer to be awarded the Khel Ratna after Sachin Tendulkar (1997) and MS Dhoni (2007). He was conferred Arjuna Award in 2013.
Mirabai Chanu, one of the most outstanding weightlifters of the country and the first Indian to win gold at the World Championships in more than two decades, was conferred the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award for the year 2018 in recognition of her outstanding achievements int h sports of weightlifting.
Athletics coach Sukhdev Singh Pannu was conferred Dronacharya Award in recognition of his outstanding achievements in the field of coaching. He has trained many outstanding athletes who have won medals in international competitions. Prominent among them are Arpinder Singh, Ajay Raj Singh and Pribu Mathew.
20 athletes were conferred with the Arjuna Award including javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, sprinter Jinson Johnson and Hima Das, shuttler N Sikki Reddy, cricketer Smriti Mandhana and table tennis player Manika Batra to name a few.
Here is the full list of the awards given in various categories by President Ram Nath Kovind at the National Sports Awards.
Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna: Virat Kohli, Mirabai Chanu
Arjuna Awards: Neeraj Chopra (Athletics), Jinson Johnson (Athletics), Hima Das (Athletics), N Sikki Reddy (Badminton), Satish Kumar (Boxing), Smriti Mandhana (Cricket), Shubhankar Sharma (Golf), Manpreet Singh (Hockey), Savita (Hockey), Col. Ravi Rathore (Polo), Rahi Sarnobat (Shooting), Ankur Mittal (Shooting), Shreyasi Singh (Shooting), Manika Batra (Table Tennis), G Sathiyan (Table Tennis), Rohan Bopanna (Tennis), Sumit (Wrestling), Pooja Kadian (Wushu), Ankur Dhama (Para-Athletics), Manoj Sarkar (Para-Badminton)
Dronacharya Awards: Achaiah Kuttappa (Boxing), Vijay Sharma (Weightlifting), A. Srinivasa Rao (Table Tennis), Sukhdev Singh Pannu (Athletics), Clarence Lobo (Hockey Lifetime achievement), Tarak Sinha (Cricket Lifetime Achievement), Jiwan Kumar Sharma (Judo Lifetime Achievement), V.R. Beedu (Athletics Lifetime Achievement)
Dhyan Chand Awards: Satyadev Prasad (Archery), Bharat Kumar Chetri (Hockey), Bobby Aloysius (Athletics), Chougale Dadu Dattatray (Wrestling)
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