New Delhi: After a controversy, double Olympic medallist shooter Manu Bhaker and chess world champion D Gukesh are among four athletes finalised for Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award by the Sports Ministry. The other two recipients of the country’s highest sports award are hockey captain Harmanpreet Singh and Paralympic gold medal winner Praveen Kumar. The sports ministry has also named 32 athletes, including 17 para-athletes, for Arjuna awards, according to reports.
Recently, there was a controversy and the sports ministry received backlash from critics after some news reports claimed that Manu’s name was missing from the list of athletes recommended for the prestigious award. Manu’s father Ram Kishan and coach Jaspal Rana were furious over such alleged developments. However, Manu had admitted that there might have been a lapse on her part with regards to filing of the nomination.
“With regards to ongoing issue for my nomination for the most prestigious Khel Ratna award-I would like to state that as an athlete my role is to play and perform for my country. Awards and recognition keeps me motivated but are not my goal. I believe there has been a lapse, maybe on my part while filing for the nomination which is being corrected. Irrespective of the award I shall remain motivated to win more medals for my country. It is a request to everyone, please do not speculate on this matter,” Manu had writte on X.
The 22-year-old Bhaker is independent India’s first athlete to win two medals in a single edition of the Olympics. She won bronze in the 10m air pistol individual and 10m air pistol mixed team events in August. Harmanpreet led the Indian hockey team to its second consecutive bronze medal in Paris Olympics 2024.
The 18-year-old Gukesh became the youngest-ever World chess champion and helped the Indian team to win a historic gold in the Chess Olympiad in 2024. Para high-jumper Praveen was crowned the T64 champion in the Paris Paralympics.
“The awardees will receive their awards from the President of India at a specially organised function at Rashtrapati Bhavan on 17th January, 2025 (Friday) at 1100 hours,” the sports ministry stated in a press release.
