Para-athletes take centrestage at National Sports Awards ceremony

Thirty-two athletes were honoured with the Arjuna Award out of which an unprecedented 17 were para-athletes

New Delhi: Manu Bhaker and D Gukesh provided a sprinkling of stardust but it was India’s para-athletes who walked away with the most boisterous applause when President Droupadi Murmu bestowed the National Sports Awards in a regal ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here on Friday.

Double Olympic medallist Bhaker, 18-year-old chess world champion Gukesh, men’s hockey captain Harmanpreet Singh and Paralympic gold-winning high jumper Praveen Kumar were presented with the country’s highest sporting honour — the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna.

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The 22-year-old Bhaker became independent India’s first athlete to win two medals in a single edition of the Olympics with her bronze-winning show in the 10m air pistol individual and 10m air pistol mixed team events in August last year.

Harmanpreet was a part of the national side that won bronze medals in the Tokyo as well as Paris Olympics. Praveen, on the other hand, upgraded his silver at the Japanese capital to gold in Paris. He was born with a short left leg.

The 18-year-old Gukesh was crowned the youngest-ever chess world champion after he beat China’s Ding Liren last month. He is only the second Indian after the great Viswanathan Anand to achieve this title.

He was also a crucial factor in India winning the men’s gold in the Chess Olympiad in September last.

Thirty-two athletes were honoured with the Arjuna Award out of which an unprecedented 17 were para-athletes.

The athletes selected for the Arjuna award included Paris Olympics bronze medal-winning group of wrestler Aman Sehrawat, shooters Swapnil Kusale and Sarabjot Singh (Bhaker’s partner in the 10m air pistol mixed competition of Olympics) and the men’s hockey team players Jarmanpreet Singh, Sukhjeet Singh, Sanjay and Abhishek.

The para-athletes outnumbered the able-bodied ones in the list this time due to the magnificent Paris Paralympics performance in which they returned with 29 medals, including seven gold and nine silver.

President Murmu repeatedly broke from tradition to receive some wheelchair-bound athletes such as Pranav Soorma, who got the Arjuna for his Paralympic silver in club throw.

The most heartwarming moment of the ceremony was when India’s first Paralympic gold-medallist Murlikant Petkar walked up to the President on crutches to receive the Arjuna award (lifetime).

The 80-year-old war hero, who was disabled waist down due to bullet wounds sustained during the 1965 battle against Pakistan, had won a historic gold medal in the 1972 Paralympics in Heidelberg.

The veteran was welcomed with rapturous applause that did not stop till he was seated back after collecting the award from the President. One among those clapping for him at the Durbar Hall was actor Kartik Aryan, who played Petkar in a recent biopic titled ‘Chandu Champion’.

Dignitaries, including sports minister Mansukh Mandaviya, parliamentary and minority affairs minister Kiren Rijuju, sports secretary Sujata Chaturvedi, were among those who attended the ceremony.

While the Khel Ratna comes with a cash prize of Rs 25 lakh, the Arjuna and Dronacharya awards include a cash prize of Rs 15 lakh.

Among the most prominent Droncharya winners this year was shooting coach Deepali Deshpande, who mentored Kusale, and former national football manager Armando Colaco.