National Sports Awards 2021: President to confer athletes on November 13

The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has announced the National Sports Awards 2021 on Tuesday.

President of India Ramnath Kovind will present the respective awards to the athletes on November 13 (Saturday). The prestigious event will take place at 16:30 pm at Darbar Hall in Rashtrapati Bhavan, Delhi.

Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Awardees:

As many as twelve athletes will be confered with Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award.

Neeraj Chopra (Athletics), Ravi Kumar (Wrestling), Lovlina Borgohain (Boxing), Sreejesh P.R (Hockey), Avani Lekhara (Para Shooting), Sumit Antil (Para Athletics), Pramod Bhagat (Para Badminton), Krishna Nagar (Para Badminton), Manish Narwal (Para Shooting), Mithali Raj (Cricket), Sunil Chhetri (Football), and Manpreet Singh (Hockey).

Athletes who will be confered with the Arjuna Awards:

At least 35 athletes will receive Arjuna Awards for outstanding contributions to the nation.

The entire men's Hockey India team, who swept the historic bronze medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics to be bestowed with the Arjuna Award.

Dilpreet Singh (Hockey), Harman Preet Singh (Hockey), Rupinder Pal Singh (Hockey), Surender Kumar (Hockey), Amit Rohidas (Hockey), Birendra Lakra (Hockey), Sumit (Hockey), Nilakanta Sharma (Hockey), Hardik Singh (Hockey), Vivek Sagar Prasad (Hockey), Gurjant Singh (Hockey), Mandeep Singh (Hockey), Shamsher Singh (Hockey), Lalit Kumar Upadhyay (Hockey), Varun Kumar (Hockey), Simranjeet Singh (Hockey). Monika (Hockey) and Vandana Katariya (Hockey) will be awarded from the women's hockey team.

The full list of athletes who will receive the Arjuna Award besides the hockey stars are: Arpinder Singh (Athletics), Simranjit Kaur (Boxing), Shikhar Dhawan (Cricket), Bhavani Devi (Fencing), Sandeep Narwal (Kabaddi), Hiimani Uttam Parab (Mallakambh), Abhishek Verma (Shooting), Ankita Raina (tennis), Deepak Punia (Wrestling).

Para-athletes: Yogesh Kathuniya (Discus throw), Nishad Kumar (High Jump), Praveen Kumar (High jump), Suhash Yathiraj (Badminton), Singhraj Adhana (Shooting), Bhavina Patel (Table Tennis), Harvinder Singh (Archery), Sharad Kumar (High jump).

Dronacharya Awardees:

The Dronacharya Award will be presented to the coaches for their 'metrorious contribution to Sports and Games’.

The Dronacharya Award in the Life-Time Category went to T. P. Ouseph (Athletics), Sarkar Talwar (Cricket), Sarpal Singh (Hockey), Ashan Kumar (Kabaddi), and Tapan Kumar Panigrahi (Swimming).

The Dronacharya Award in the regular category will be presented to Radhakrishnan Nair P (Athletics), Sandhya Gurung (Boxing), Pritam Siwach (Hockey), Jai Prakash Nautiyal (Para Shooting), and Subramanian Raman (Table Tennis).

Dhyan Chand Award for Lifetime Achievement:

Lekha KC (Boxing), Abhijeet Kunte (Chess), Davinder Singh Garcha (Hockey), Vikas Kumar (Kabaddi), and Sajjan Singh (Wrestling) to be awarded the Dhyan Chand Award for Lifetime Achievement.