President Ram Nath Kovind conferred the National Sports Awards to athletes on Thursday. Deepa Malik became the first Indian woman para-athlete to receive the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award.
President Ram Nath Kovind conferred annual Arjuna Awards to 19 athletes and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award to para-athlete Deepa Malik and wrestler Bajrang Punia. The awards were given on National Sports Day which is celebrated on August 29 to mark the birth anniversary of hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand.
“I am very happy. This whole journey has been more about changing the attitude of people towards disability and the hidden potential in people with disability,” Malik said. “I think the award is going to be a huge inspiration to women athletes in disability. It took 70 years for independent India to win medal in Paralympic,” she added. At 49, Malik became the first woman para-athlete and the oldest to be honoured with Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award.
Khel Ratna awardee wrestler Bajrang Punia missed the ceremony as he is currently in Russia to prepare for the upcoming World Championships in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. Ravindra Jadeja, Anjum Moudgill, and Mohd Anas were also unable to attend the ceremony.
World Championships bronze-medallist shuttler B Sai Praneeth, woman cricketer Poonam Yadav, Asian Games gold-winner heptathlete Swapna Barman, footballer Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, two-time world silver-medallist boxer Sonia Lather, Asian Games silver- medallist equestrian Fouaad Mirza, motorsports ace Gaurav Gill and Kabaddi captain Ajay Thakur were among the 19 sportspersons who received the Arjuna Award.
Earlier this month, the Selection Committee for Sports Awards 2019 had nominated the athletes for the prestigious honour. Besides the the Khel Ratna and Arjuna awards, President Kovind also conferred Dronacharya and Dhyan Chand awards to coaches, the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure awards, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy and Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar.
