PR Sreejesh, Neeraj Chopra among 12 to be conferred with Khel Ratna award

NEW DELHI: Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award will be given to 12 sportspersons including PR Sreejesh, Neeraj Chopra, Ravi Kumar and Lovlina Borgohain. The awards will be given in New Delhi on November 13. The award was announced by the Union Ministry of Sports.

Sreejesh is the third Keralite to receive the Khel Ratna award. He was the goalkeeper of the Indian men's hockey team that won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics.

The awardees are Neeraj Chopra (Athletics), Ravi Kumar (Wrestling), Lovlina Borgohain (Boxing), Sreejesh PR (Hockey), Avani Lekhara (Para Shooting), Sumit Antil (Para Athletics), Pramod Bhagat (Para Badminton), Krishna Nagar (Para Badminton), Manish 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, Bhavani Devi, Monika, Vandana Katariya, Sandeep Narwal, Hiimani 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 Panigrahi. Dronacharya Award in the regular category is awarded to Radhakrishnan Nair P, Sandhya Gurung, Pritam Siwach, Jai Prakash Nautiyal, and Subramanian 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.