Gukesh, Manu, Harmanpreet, Praveen picked for Khel Ratna Award 2024
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New Delhi: World Chess Champion Gukesh D, along with Paris Olympics and Paralympics medalists Manu Bhaker (shooting), Harmanpreet Singh (hockey), and Praveen Kumar (para-athlete), will be conferred with the prestigious Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award 2024. President Droupadi Murmu will present the awards at a special ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan on January 17, as announced by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports on Thursday.
Gukesh recently made history by becoming the youngest-ever World Chess Champion, defeating China's Ding Liren in the title clash held in Singapore.
Manu Bhaker achieved a historic feat by becoming the first Indian athlete to win two medals at a single edition of the Paris Games. She secured double bronze medals in the 10m air pistol and the 10m air pistol mixed team events.
Harmanpreet Singh led the Indian men’s hockey team to clinch their second consecutive bronze medal at the Olympics. Meanwhile, para-athlete Praveen Kumar won gold in the high jump T64 category at the Paralympics.
In addition to the Khel Ratna Awards, the Sports Ministry unveiled a list of 32 athletes set to receive the Arjuna Awards for outstanding performance in Sports and Games 2024. The list includes Jyothi Yarraji, Annu Rani, Nitu, Saweety, Vantika Agrawal, Salima Tete, Abhishek, Sanjay, Jarmanpreet Singh, Sukhjeet Singh, Rakesh Kumar, Preeti Pal, Jeevanji Deepthi, Ajeet Singh, Sachin Sarjerao Khilari, Dharambir, Pranav Soorma, H Hokato Sema, Simran, Navdeep, Nitesh Kumar, Thulasimathi Murugesan, Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan, Manisha Ramadass, Kapil Parmar, Mona Agarwal, Rubina Francis, Swapnil Suresh Kusale, Sarabjot Singh, Abhay Singh, Sajan Prakash, and Aman.
Former cyclist Sucha Singh and former para-swimmer Murlikant Rajaram Petkar have been recognized with the Arjuna Award (Lifetime) for their exceptional contributions to sports.
The Dronacharya Award for 2024 was bestowed on Subhash Rana (para-shooter), Deepali Deshpande (shooting), and Sandeep Sangwan (hockey) for their excellence in coaching. In the lifetime category, S Muralidharan (badminton) and Armando Agnelo Colaco (football) received the honor.
The Physical Education Foundation of India was conferred the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar for promoting sports. Additionally, the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy 2024 for overall top-performing universities in the Khelo India University Games was awarded to Chandigarh University (overall winner), Lovely Professional University (first runner-up), and Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar (second runner-up).
The MAKA Trophy is given annually to the overall top-performing university in the Khelo India University Games.
With IANS inputs