HSB/ NEW DELHI
Government today announced the National Sports Awards 2020. Cricketer Rohit Sharma, Para-Athlete Mariyappan Thangavelu, Table Tennis player Manika Batra, Wrestler Vinesh Phogat and Indian Women’s Hockey team captain Rani Rampal will receive the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award.
The Award is conferred on sportspersons for spectacular and most outstanding performance in the field of sports for over a period of four years.
This year 27 sportspersons have been selected for the Arjuna Award for consistent outstanding performance for four years.
They are Archer Atanu Das, Athlete Dutee Chand, Shuttlers Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and Chirag C Shetty, Basketball player Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, Boxers Subedar Manish Kaushik and Lovlina Borgohain, Cricketer Ishant Sharma and Deepti Sharma, Equestrian player Sawant Ajay Anant, Footballer Sandesh Jhingan, Golfer Aditi Ashok, Hockey players Akashdeep Singh and Deepika, Kabaddi player Deepak, Kho Kho player Kale Sarika Sudhakar, Rower Dattu Baban Bhokanal, Shooter Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary, Table Tennis player Madhurika Suhas Patkar, Tennis player Divij Sharan, Winter Sports player Shiva Keshavan, Wrestlers Divya Kakran and Rahul Aware, Para Swimmer Suyash Narayan Jadhav, Para Athlete Sandeep and Para Shooter Manish Narwal.
In Life-Time Category, Dronacharya Award will be given to Dharmendra Tiwary for Archery, Purushotham Rai for Athletics, Shiv Singh for Boxing, Romesh Pathania for Hockey, Krishan Kumar Hooda for Kabaddi, Vijay Bhalchandra Munishwar for Para Powerlifting, Naresh Kumar for Tennis and Om Parkash Dahiya for Wrestling
In Regular Category, Dronacharya Award will be given to Jude Felix Sebastian for Hockey, Yogesh Malviya for Mallakhamb, Jaspal Rana for Shooting, Kuldeep Kumar Handoo for Wushu and Gaurav Khanna for Para Badminton.
Dronacharya Award goes to the coaches for producing medal winners at prestigious international sports events.
Dhyan Chand Award will be given to Kuldip Singh Bhullar and Jincy Philips for Athletics, Pradeep Shrikrishna Gandhe and Trupti Murgunde for Badminton, N. Usha and Lakha Singh for Boxing, Sukhvinder Singh Sandhu for Football, Ajit Singh for Hockey, Manpreet Singh for Kabaddi, J. Ranjith Kumar for Para Athletics, Satyaprakash Tiwari for Para Badminton, Manjeet Singh for Rowing, Nandan P Bal for Tennis, and Netarpal Hooda for Wrestling. Late Sachin Nag will be confered the award for swimming.
Dhyan Chand Award is given for life time contribution to sports development.
Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award will be given to Anita Devi, Col. Sarfraz Singh, Taka Tamut, Narender Singh and Keval Hiren Kakka in Land Adventure category. Satendra Singh will get the award in Water Adventure categoty and Gajanand Yadava will get it in the Air Adventure category. Late Magan Bissa will be confered the award in Life Time Achievement category.
Lakshya Institute and Army Sports Institute will be honoured with Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar for identification and nurturing of budding and young Talent. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, ONGC Limited will get the award for encouragement to sports through Corporate Social Responsibility. Air Force Sports Control Board will be honoured with the award for employment of sportspersons and sports welfare measures. International Institute of Sports Management, IISM, will get the award for Sports for Development.
Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar is given to the corporate entities both in private and public sector and individuals who have played a visible role in the area of sports promotion and development.
Panjab University, Chandigarh will get Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, MAKA Trophy for overall top performing university in inter-university tournaments.
A large number of applications were received for Sports Awards this year, which were considered by the Selection Committee headed by former Judge of Supreme Court Justice (Retd.) Mukundakam Sharma and other members comprising of eminent sportspersons, persons having experience in sports journalism and sports administration, etc.
The awardees will receive their awards from the President Ram Nath Kovind at a specially organized function through virtual mode from Rashtrapati Bhawan on 29th of this month which is National Sports Day. It coincides with the birthday of legendary hockey Olympian, Dhyan Chand.