Mohammed Shami Receives Arjuna Award; Badminton Duo Satwik & Chirag Collect the Khel Ratna Award

The Indian athletes were conferred with the National Sports Awards by President Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhawan on Tuesday. The Badminton duo Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy received the Khel Ratna Award while Cricketer Mohammed Shami collected the coveted Arjuna Award. 

Chirag and Satwik won their maiden Asian Games gold in 2023, first time for India in badminton. The duo also clinched the Asian Championships title and the Indonesia Open Super 1000 title.

Chirag and Satwik became the world No.1 last year. They would be aiming for an Olympic medal in Paris. "Yes, that is our next goal (to win an Olympic medal). We hope to do the country proud again," said Chirag.

Also Read: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy shatters a decade-long standing Guinness World Record for fastest badminton shot

26 athletes and para-athletes were conferred the Arjuna Awards. The newly-crowned chess Grandmaster R. Vaishali, the elder sister of R. Praggnanandhaa was honoured for becoming the third woman from the country after Koneru Humpy and Dronavalli Harika to turn GM.

19-year-old Esha Singh is competing in the Asian Olympic Qualifiers in Jakarta. She qualified for the Paris Olympics after winning the individual and team gold in 10m air pistol events on Monday.

Wrestler Antim Panghal, a former junior world champion and bronze-winner at the senior event last year, boxer Mohammad Hussamuddin (bronze-winner at last year's world championship), and para archer Sheetal Devi were also conferred with the Arjuna Award.

Devi won two gold medals in the Hangzhou Asian Games. She is the first international para archer without upper limbs due to a rare condition called Phocomelia.

Among the notable Dronacharya awardees, this year is chess coach RB Ramesh, who has groomed Praggnanandhaa.

Also Read: Arjuna Award winner in cricket since 2013

List of National Sports Award winners:

Khel Ratna Award for 2023:

Chirag Shetty and Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy (badminton).

Arjuna Awards for 2023:

1. Ojas Pravin Deotale (archery)

2. Aditi Gopichand Swami (archery)

3. Murali Sreeshankar (athletics)

4. Parul Chaudhary (athletics)

5. Mohammed 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. Sushila Chanu (hockey)

13. Pawan Kumar (kabaddi)

14. Ritu Negi (kabaddi)

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 Panghal (wrestling)

23. Naorem Roshibina Devi (wushu)

24. Sheetal Devi (para archery)

25. Illuri Ajay Kumar Reddy (blind cricket)

26. Prachi Yadav (para canoeing)

#WATCH | Delhi: Mohammed Shami received the Arjuna Award from President Droupadi Murmu at the National Sports Awards. pic.twitter.com/znIqdjf0qS

— ANI (@ANI) January 9, 2024

Dronacharya Award (Regular Category) for outstanding coaches:

1. Lalit Kumar (wrestling)

2. RB Ramesh (chess)

3. Mahaveer Prasad Saini (para athletics)

4. Shivendra Singh (hockey)

5. Ganesh Prabhakar Devrukhkar (mallakhamb)

6. Dronacharya Award (Lifetime Category) for outstanding coaches:

7. Jaskirat Singh Grewal (golf)

8. Bhaskaran E (kabaddi)

9. Jayanta Kumar Pushilal (table tennis)

Dhyan Chand Award for Lifetime Achievement:

1. Manjusha Kanwar (badminton)

2. Vineet Kumar Sharma (hockey)

3. Kavitha Selvaraj (kabaddi)

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy 2023:

1. Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar (overall winner university)

2. Lovely Professional University, Punjab (1st runner-up)

3. Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra (2nd runner-up)