New Delhi: Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports, Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya on Thursday congratulated the athletes who were named for the National Sports Awards for 2024. Double Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker, World Chess champion Gukesh D, Indian men’s hockey team captain Harmanpreet Singh, and Paris Paralympics gold medallist Praveen Kumar were awarded the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award.
The awardees will receive their awards from the President of India Droupadi Murmu at a specially organised function at Rashtrapati Bhavan on January 17.
“This is not just an award, it is an honour for your tireless hard work and for giving the country a moment of pride. I extend my heartiest congratulations and best wishes to all of you. May you continue to make the nation proud and keep making your invaluable contribution in taking the country forward in the field of sports,” Mandaviya wrote on X congratulating the National Sports Awards 2024 winners.
The Sports Minister also named 32 recipients for the Arjuna Award, given for “good performance over a period of the previous four years and for showing qualities of leadership, sportsmanship and a sense of discipline”.
The Arjuna Award list includes Jyothi Yarraji, Annu Rani, Nitu, Saweety, Vantika Agrawal, Salima Tete, Abhishek, Sanjay, Jarmanpreet Singh, Sukhjeet Singh, Rakesh Kumar, Preeti Pal, Jeevanji Deepthi, Ajeet Singh, Sachin Sarjerao Khilari, Dharambir, Pranav Soorma, H. Hokato Sema, Simran, Navdeep, Nitesh Kumar, Thulasimathi Murugesan, Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan, Manisha Ramadass, Kapil Parmar, Mona Agarwal, Rubina Francis, Swapnil Suresh Kusale, Sarabjot Singh, Abhay Singh, Sajan Prakash and Aman Sehrawat.
Former cyclist Sucha Singh and India’s first Paralympics gold medallist Murlikant Rajaram Petkar were awarded Arjuna Awards (Lifetime) for outstanding performance in Sports and Games.
Subhash Rana (para-shooter), Deepali Deshpande (shooting), and Sandeep Sangwan (hockey) were named Dronacharya Award 2024 recipients.
S. Muralidharan (badminton) and Armando Agnelo Colaco (football) were awarded the Dronacharya Award in the lifetime category.
Physical Education Foundation of India was given the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar while Chandigarh University (overall winner), Lovely Professional University (first runner-up), and Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar (second runner-up) were awarded Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy 2024.
(IANS)
