Honoured to be awarded Khel Ratna, says Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra

Tokyo Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra on Wednesday said that he is honoured to be chosen for the prestigious Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award.

"Very honoured to be awarded the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna alongside some outstanding sportspersons. Aap sabhi ke sahyog aur support ke liye tahe dil se dhanyavad. Koshish ye hi rahegi ki aise hi apne performances se desh ke liya aur success haasil kar paun! Jai Hind," tweeted Neeraj Chopra.

Earlier this year, Neeraj Chopra had bagged a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics and the javelin thrower brought India its first medal in athletics at the mega event.

Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports on Tuesday announced the list for National Sports Awards 2021. The awardees will receive their awards from the President of India at a specially orgzed function at the Darbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan on November 13.

Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award will be given to 12 sportspersons including Neeraj Chopra (Athletics), Ravi Kumar (Wrestling), Lovlina Borgohain (Boxing), Sreejesh P.R (Hockey), Av Lekhara (Para Shooting), Sumit Antil (Para-Athletics), Pramod Bhagat (Para Badminton), Krishna Nagar (Para Badminton), Msh Narwal (Para Shooting), Mithali Raj (Cricket), Sunil Chhetri (Football), and Manpreet Singh (Hockey).

All men's Hockey India team who has won the historic bronze medal in Tokyo 2020 Olympics has been awarded Arjun Award with the exceptions of PR Sreejesh and Manpreet Singh.

The full list of athletes who will receive the Arjuna Award are Arpinder Singh, Simranjit Kaur, Shikhar Dhawan, Bhav Devi, Monika, Vandana Katariya, Sandeep Narwal, Hiim Uttam Parab, Abhishek Verma, Ankita Raina, Deepak Punia, Dilpreet Singh, Harman Preet Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Surender Kumar, AmitRohidas, Birendra Lakra, Sumit, Nilakanta Sharma, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Gurjant Singh, Mandeep Singh, Shamsher Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Varun Kumar, Simranjeet Singh, Yogesh Kathuniya, Nishad Kumar, Praveen Kumar, SuhashYathiraj, Singhraj Adhana, Bhavina Patel, Harvinder Singh, and Sharad Kumar.

Dronacharya Award in the Life-Time Category went to T. P. Ouseph, Sarkar Talwar, Sarpal Singh, Ashan Kumar, and Tapan Kumar Pgrahi. Dronacharya Award in the regular category is awarded to Radhakrishnan Nair P, Sandhya Gurung, Pritam Siwach, Jai Prakash Nautiyal, and Subraman Raman.

Dhyan Chand Award for Lifetime achievement went to Lekha KC, Abhijeet Kunte, Davinder Singh Garcha, Vikas Kumar, and Sajjan Singh. Punjab University (Chandigarh) will receive the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy for 2021.

( With inputs from ANI )

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