Chirag Shetty and Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy win the Khel Ratna Award; Md. Shami and 25 others win Arjuna Award

India's badminton men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty are selected for the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, the country's highest sports prize, Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports announced on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Shami alongside 25 other athletes win the Arjuna Award.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won at the Asian Games, Asian Championships, Swiss Open, Indonesia Open, and Korea Open and were runners-up at the China Masters. The pair also rose to No.1 in the BWF world rankings this year, the first for an Indian doubles pair. They are also the first badminton doubles pair to get the award.

Cricketer Md Shami, the highest wicket-taker in the ODI World Cup with 24 scalps, featured among 26 sportspersons, who will receive the Arjuna Awards for outstanding performance in sports and games in 2023.

After watching the first four games from the sidelines, Shami made an entry in India's fifth league stage match against New Zealand and finished with 24 wickets in seven matches with the best figures of 7/57.

The athletes were nominated for the awards by a government panel on December 13. The ministry also cleared five coaches for the Dronacharya award in the regular category and three in the lifetime category.

Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award 2023

1. Chirag Chandrashekhar Shetty (Badminton)

2. Rankireddy Satwik Sai Raj (Badminton)

Arjuna Awards

1. Ojas Pravin Deotale (Archery)

2. Aditi Gopichand Swami (Archery)

3. Sreeshankar M (Athletics)

4. Parul Chaudhary (Athletics)

5. Mohameed Hussamuddin (Boxing)

6. R Vaishali (Chess)

7. Mohammed Shami (Cricket)

8. Anush Agarwalla (Equestrian)

9. Divyakriti Singh (Equestrian Dressage)

10. Diksha Dagar (Golf)

11. Krishan Bahadur Pathak (Hockey)

12. Pukhrambam Sushila Chanu (Hockey)

13. Pawan Kumar (Kabbadi)

14. Ritu Negi (Kabbadi)

15. Nasreen (Kho-Kho)

16. Pinki (Lawn Bowls)

17. Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar (Shooting)

18. Esha Singh (Shooting)

19. Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (Squash)

20. Ayhika Mukherjee (Table Tennis)

21. Sunil Kumar (Wrestling)

22. Antim (Wrestling)

23. Naorem Roshibina Devi (Wushu)

24. Sheetal Devi (Para Archery)

25. Illuri Ajay Kumar Reddy (Blind Cricket)

26. Prachi Yadav (Para Canoeing)

Dronacharya Award for Outstanding Coaches

1. Lalit Kumar (Wrestling)

2. R B Ramesh (Chess)

3. Mahaveer Prasad Saini (Para Athletics)

4. Shivendra Singh (Hockey)

5. Ganesh Prabhakar Devrukhkar (Mallakhamb)