| India’s ace men’s doubles pair is the only name for the country’s top award while the India pacer is among those in the list for the Arjuna award. |
Drishti Mail, Agency: India’s premier badminton men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty is in line to receive the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, the country’s highest sports prize. The pair has had a remarkable year, reaching as many as six finals, winning five. They won at the Asian Games, Asian Championships, Swiss Open, Indonesia Open and Korea Open. They were runners-up at China Masters.
India pace ace Mohammed Shami, who finished as the top wickettaker in the ODI World Cup with 24 scalps, is in the list for the Arjuna Award, it is learnt. Satwik-Chirag, the first Indian doubles pair to rise to the top of the international game, also rose to No.1 in the BWF world rankings this year, also a first for an Indian doubles pair.
Confirming the development ahead of official announcement, a Badminton Association of India (BAI) official said: “Nowadays athletes apply for the awards directly. After scrutiny, the sports ministry discusses with the respective national sports federation (NSF) that they are considering the said athlete for the award. The federation either gives or does not give consent with reasoning. Normally players and the association have an informal discussion before applying, given their performance in the international arena. Satwik and Chirag had discussions with us before applying. The last date was December 2 I believe. The ministry hasn’t reached out to us yet. We will, of course, approve their nomination. They are our jewels.”
The union sports ministry will make the final announcement. Satwik-Chirag will become the first badminton doubles pair to get the award. Pullela Gopichand, Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu are the badminton players who have received the Khel Ratna.
Like last year, there is only one name for Khel Ratna, after 12 received the award in 2021 after the Tokyo Olympics. The Arjuna Award list includes some of the top performers at the Hangzhou Asian Games, where India crossed the 100-medal mark for the first time (107 medals). Compound archers Aditi Swami and Ojas Deotale, who became world champions this year and won medals in Hangzhou, India men’s hockey team members Krishan Bahadur Pathak and Sushila Chanu, boxer Mohammad Hussamuddin, chess grandmaster R Vaishali, golfer Diksha Dagar, shooter Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, wrestler Antim Panghal and Ayhika Mukherjee (table tennis) are among those in the list, it is learned.
Asian Games silver medallist Roshibina Devi (wushu), pistol shooter Esha Singh, Greco-Roman wrestler Sunil Kumar and kho kho player Nasreen Shaikh are also in line for the Arjuna Award. “It’s a great moment for the sport of wushu. Roshibina won her second Asiad medal this year and followed it with a silver at world championships. It’s a richly deserved honour for her,” national coach Kuldeep Handoo said.
The names for Dronacharya Award are Lalit Kumar (wrestling), Ganesh Prabhakaran (mallakhamb), Mahavir Saini (para athletics), RB Ramesh (chess) and Shivendra Singh (hockey) while Kavita (kabaddi), Manjusha Kanwar (badminton) and Vineet Kumar Sharma (hockey) are the names for the Dhyan Chand Lifetime award.
