Manu Bhaker, D Gukesh among four to be honoured with Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award

The Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award will be awarded to four exceptional athletes, recognizing their outstanding contributions to Indian sports.

New Delhi: India's highest sporting honor, the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, will be bestowed upon four exceptional athletes. This prestigious award recognizes outstanding performances and contributions to Indian sports.

Manu Bhaker, a multiple-time Olympic medallist and ace shooter, is among the awardees. The other three awardees are Harmanpreet Singh, captain of the Indian men's hockey team, who led his team to a historic Olympic bronze medal; D Gukesh, who at 18 became the youngest-ever world chess champion; and para-athlete Praveen Kumar, who won a gold medal in the T64 high jump category at the Paralympics.

A dedicated online portal was used to receive applications, which were then carefully evaluated by a selection committee headed by Justice (Retd.) V. Ramasubramanian. The committee comprises eminent sportspersons, sports journalists, and administrators.

The awardees will receive their honors from the President of India at a special function held at Rashtrapati Bhavan on January 17, 2025, at 11:00 hours.

Reports suggest that initially, only Manu Bhaker was recommended for the prestigious Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award by the selection committee. However, following intervention by the central government, the decision was made to honor four exceptional athletes with the award.

The exclusion of Manu Bhaker’s name from the Khel Ratna list had sparked controversy, with her coach, Jaspal Rana, and father, Ram Kishan, voicing concerns. Bhaker, however, clarified that the oversight was due to her own failure to apply on time. Bhaker made history by winning bronze medals in both the individual and team 10m air pistol events at the Paris Olympics, becoming the first Indian woman to achieve this remarkable feat.

In addition to the Khel Ratna Awards, several other athletes were honoured with the Arjuna Award. Among them was Malayali swimmer Sajan Prakash as well as 32 other individuals, including 17 Paralympic athletes.

Malayali badminton coach S. Muraleedharan was also recognized with the Dronacharya Award for his excellence in coaching. The awards will be formally presented in a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan on January 17, 2025.

Arjuna Award winners

Jyothi Yarraji (Athletics), Annu Rani (Athletics), Nitu (Boxing), Saweety (Boxing), Vantika Agarwal (Chess), Salima Tete (Hockey), Abhishek (Hockey), Sanjay (Hockey), Germanpreet Singh (Hockey), Sukhjeet Singh (Hockey), Rakesh Kumar (Para Archery), Preeti Pal (Para Athletics), Jeevanji Deepthi (Para Athletics), Ajit Singh (Para Athletics), Sachin Sarjerao Khilari (Para Athletics), Dharambeer (Para Athletics), Pranav (Para Athletics), H. Hokato Sema (Para Athletics), Simran (Para Athletics), Navdeep (Para Athletics), Nitesh Kumar (Para-Badminton), Thulasimathi Murugesan (Para-Badminton), Nithya Sree Sumathi Sivan (Para Badminton), Manisha Ramadass (Para Badminton), Kapil Parmar (Para Judo), Mona Agarwal (Para Shooting), Rubina Francis (Para Shooting), Swapnil Suresh Kusale (Shooting), Sarabjot Singh (Shooting), Abhay Singh (Squash), Sajan Prakash (Swimming), Aman (Wrestling).