Neeraj Chopra, P R Sreejesh and several other athletes honored at National Sports Awards 2021

President of India Ram Nath Kovind conferred athletes with the National Awards 2021 on Saturday. The prestigious event took place at Darbar Hall in Rashtrapati Bhavan, Delhi.

As many as twelve athletes were honored with the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award.

This includes the 2021 Tokyo Olympics medallists Neeraj Chopra (Athletics), Ravi Kumar (Wrestling), Lovlina Borgohain (Boxing), Sreejesh P.R (Hockey) and Manpreet Singh (Hockey).

2021 Paralympic medallists Avani Lekhara (Para Shooting), Sumit Antil (Para Athletics), Pramod Bhagat (Para Badminton) and Manish Narwal (Para Shooting) also received the prestigious award.

Meanwhile, Mithali Raj (Cricket) became the first Indian female cricketer to receive the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. Legendary footballer Sunil Chhetri was also bestowed with the honor.

Krishna Nagar (Para Badminton) was also supposed to be at the prestigious award ceremony to receive the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. Unfortunately, he could not be in attendance due to his mother's demise.

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National Sports Awards 2021: Athletes confered with Arjuna Award

At least 35 athletes received the Arjuna Award for phenomenal contributions to the nation.

The entire men's Hockey India team, who swept the historic bronze medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, have been honored with the Arjuna Award. They are:

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 received the Arjuna Award in addition to the hockey players 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).