India’s best-performing athletes from last year were today conferred with the national sports awards 2023 by President Droupadi Murmu in a regal ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi on Tuesday. During the ceremony, Dronacharya Award, for Outstanding Coaches in Sports and Games, Dhyan Chand Awards for Lifetime Achievement in Sports and Games, Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar and Adventure Awards 2023 were also given.
While Khel Ratna winners Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty couldn’t be present at the grand ceremony due to their international commitments at the ongoing Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur, the ceremony saw a star-studded turnout.
Cricketer Mohammed Shami, teenage archers Sheetal Devi and Aditi Gopichand Swami, long jumper Murali Sreeshankar, runner Parul Chaudhary and wrestler Antim Panghal were prominent names among the 26 athletes who received the Arjuna Award.
Shooter Esha Singh, an Arjuna Awardee, too couldn’t make the ceremony as she is currently in Jakarta for the rifle and pistol Asian Olympic qualifiers. The 19-year-old Esha on Monday won the women’s 10m air pistol gold medal in Jakarta and secured a Paris 2024 Olympic quota for India.
Chess prodigy R Praggnanandhaa’s coach RB Ramesh was one of the recipients of the prestigious Dronacharya Award, which honours exceptional mentors in sport.
The National Sports Awards ceremony is usually held on August 29 every year to commemorate the birth anniversary of hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand. However, it was deferred last year because of the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou, which ran from September 23 to October 8.
National Sports Awards 2023 winners – full list
Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award
• Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (badminton)
• Chirag Shetty (badminton)
Arjuna Award
• Ojas Pravin Deotale (archery)
• Aditi Swami (archery)
• M Sreeshankar (athletics)
• Parul Chaudhary (athletics)
• Mohammad Hussamuddin (boxing)
• R Vaishali (chess)
• Mohammed Shami (cricket)
• Anush Agarwalla (equestrian)
• Divyakriti Singh (equestrian dressage)
• Diksha Dagar (golf)
• Krishan Bahadur Pathak (hockey)
• Pukhrambam Sushila Chanu (hockey)
• Pawan Kumar (kabaddi)
• Ritu Negi (kabaddi)
• Nasreen (kho-kho)
• Pinki (lawn bowls)
• Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar (shooting)
• Esha Singh (shooting)
• Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (squash)
• Ayhika Mukherjee (table tennis)
• Sunil Kumar (wrestling)
• Antim Panghal (wrestling)
• Naorem Roshibina Devi (wushu)
• Sheetal Devi (para archery)
• Illuri Ajay Kumar Reddy (blind cricket)
• Prachi Yadav (para canoeing)
Dronacharya Award regular category
• Ganesh Prabhakaran (mallakhamb)
• Mahavir Saini (para athletics)
• Lalit Kumar (wrestling)
• RB Ramesh (chess)
• Shivendra Singh (hockey)
Dronacharya Award lifetime category
• Jaskirat Singh Grewal (golf)
• Bhaskaran E (kabaddi)
• Jayanta Kumar Pushilal (table tennis)
Dhyan Chand Award for Lifetime Achievement
• Kavitha Selvaraj (kabaddi)
• Manjusha Kanwar (badminton)
• Vineet Kumar Sharma (hockey)
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy 2023
• Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar (Winner)
• Lovely Professional University, Punjab (1st runner-up)
• Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra (2nd runner-up)