New Delhi:Already conferred with country's highest sporting honour Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award wrestler Sakshi Malik and former world champion weightlifter Mirabai Chanu's names have been removed from the Arjuna awardees list, while 27 athletes will be conferred Arjuna award at a specially organized function through virtual mode from Rashtrapati Bhawan on August 29.
The 12-member selection committee of the Sports Ministry has recommended the list of 29 athletes to which the final decision was left to Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju. The Sports Minister has now removed the names of Sakshi and Chanu from the list as both have already received country's highest sporting honour Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna.
While Sakshi received the Khel Ratna in 2016 for her bronze medal in the Rio Olympics, Mirabai was conferred with the honour in 2018 along with India captain Virat Kohli for her world championship gold medal.This year for Arjuna Award 215 athletes names were sent. Performance from January 2016 to December 2019 were kept as the criteria for the Arjuna Award.
Among other awardees for the Arjuna Award are India cricketer Ishant Sharma, Atanu Das Archery, Dutee Chand Athletics, Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy badminton.Chirag Chandrasekhar Shetty badminton, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi basketball, Manish Kaushik boxing, Lovlina Borgohain boxing, Deepti Sharma cricket, Sawant Ajay Anant Equestrian, Sandesh Jhingan football, Aditi Ashok golf, Akashdeep Singh hockey, Deepika hockey, Kale Sarika Sudhakar Kho Kho, Dattu Baban Bhokanal rowing, Manu Bhaker shooting, Saurabh Chaudhary shooting, Madhurika Suhas Patkar table tennis, Divij Sharan tennis, Shiva Keshavan winter sports, Divya Kakran wrestling, Rahul Aware wrestling, Suyash Narayan Jadhav Para Swimming, Sandeep Para Athletics, Manish Narwal, Para Shooting.(UNI)
