26 Athletes Receive Arjuna Award, 5 Coaches Honored with Dronacharya; Shami in Cricket, Aishwarya Pratap in Shooting, Sattvik and Chiragane Khel Ratna
The National Sports Awards ceremony is scheduled to take place at 11:00 AM today at Rashtrapati Bhavan, where the Dronacharya Award will be presented for the first time. The President is honoring athletes who demonstrated outstanding performances in 2023 with various awards.
Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna for Satwik-Chirag and Arjuna Award for Shami
Star badminton pair Satwik Sairaj and Chirag Shetty will be honored with the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award. Additionally, 26 athletes, including Mohammed Shami, will be awarded the Arjuna Award for their exceptional performances in 2023.
Shami Shines with Most Wickets in World Cup
Arjuna Award winner Mohammad Shami delivered an outstanding performance in the ODI World Cup, taking the highest number of wickets. Despite India’s loss in the final against Australia, Shami emerged as the leading wicket-taker in the tournament with 24 wickets.
Dronacharya Award for Five Coaches
Ganesh Prabhakaran (Mallakhamb), Mahaveer Saini (Para Athletics), Lalit Kumar (Wrestling), Arbi Ramesh (Chess), and Shivendra Singh (Hockey) were honored with the prestigious Dronacharya Award for their coaching excellence.
Memorable Year for Satwik-Chirag, Winners of 3 BWF Titles
Satwik and Chirag had a memorable year, winning a gold in the Asian Games (India’s first gold in badminton at the Asian Games) and the Asian Championship title. The duo also clinched titles at Indonesia Super 1000, Korea Super 500, and Swiss Super 300 tournaments.
Satwik-Chirag’s Bronze at World Championship, Gold at Commonwealth Games
Satwik-Chirag won the bronze medal at the World Championships and, after winning gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, they continue to achieve success. Both players will receive the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award, the highest sports honor in India.
MAKA Trophy 2023
Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar (Winner), Lovely Professional University, Punjab (First Runner-Up), and Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra (Second Runner-Up) were the top three sports universities in the country. The MAKA Trophy 2023 will be awarded to Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar.
