Indian tennis star Sania Mirza receiving the Khel Ratna from President Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.
New Delhi - 12 others, including ace shooter Jitu Rai, cricketer Rohit Sharma and hockey goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh were conferred with the Arjuna award.
Published: Sat 29 Aug 2015, 7:12 PM
Last updated: Sun 30 Aug 2015, 2:00 AM
Tennis star Sania Mirza received the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, the country's highest sporting honour on Saturday, while 12 others, including ace shooter Jitu Rai and hockey goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh were conferred with the Arjuna award.
Dronacharya award
The Dronacharya award -- conferred on eminent coaches -- went to Anoop Kumar Dahiya (wrestling), Harbans Singh (athletics), Swatantar Raj Singh (boxing), Nihar Ameen (swimming) and Naval Singh (para-athletics).
Arjuna awards
In a glittering function at the Rashtrapati Bhawan, President Pranab Mukherjee also handed out Arjuna awards to wrestlers Bajrang Singh, men's singles shuttler Kidambi Srikanth, archer Sandeep Kumar, 2014 Commonwealth Games medal winning gymnast Dipa Karmakar, kabaddi players Manjeet Chillar and Abhilasha Shashikant Mhatre, roller skater Anup Kumar Yama, weightlifter Sivalingam Sathish Kumar, wushu athlete Y. Sanathoi Devi and para-swimmer Sharath M. Gaekwad.
Sania Mirza's achievements Sania, who became the first Indian woman to achieve the World No.1 spot in doubles, recently clinched the Wimbledon crown along with Swiss star Martina Hingis. She has four Grand Slam titles in her kitty.
The Hyderabadi is only the second tennis player after Leander Paes to be named for the top sports award. Paes received the honour in 1996 after clinching the bronze medal at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.
She had also received the Arjuna award in 2004 and was awarded the Padma Shri -- the country's fourth highest civilian honour -- in 2006.
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Boxer Mandeep Jangra, women's 400 metre runner M.R. Poovamma, female wrestler Babita Kumari, cricketer Rohit Sharma and rower Swarn Singh Virk were also named for the Arjuna award, but could not attend the function.
Jangra, Poovamma, Babita and Sharma are currently participating in international competitions abroad while Virk, who won gold at the Asian Rowing Championship in 2013, is in hospital with an injury.
They will receive their awards at a later date from sports minister Sarbananda Sonowal.
Dhyan Chand award
Former India volleyball captain T.P.P. Nair, Davis Cup captain S.P. Misra and former hockey goalkeeper Romeo James bagged the Dhyan Chand award.
Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award
Meanwhile, the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award went to Arunima Sinha and Jot Singh (both land adventure), Wing Commander Paramvir Singh (water adventure), Lt. Colonel (retd.) Satyendra Verma (air adventure) and Colonel (Retd.) Satish Chander Sharma (lifetime achievement).
Punjabi University, Patiala, was conferred the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy.
Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskarar
The Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskarar, intended to promote involvement of corporates and institutional boards in sports, went to Directorate General of Military Training, Haryana Police, Sports Coaching Foundation (Hyderabad) and Coal India Limited.
Among those who received the Arjuna awards, goalkeeper Sreejesh played a key role in India winning the Asian Games hockey gold medal and the Commonwealth Games (CWG) silver in 2014.
Rohit has scored 4312 runs in One-Day International (ODI) cricket. He holds the record of most number of runs (264) in an ODI. The right-handed batsman also played a key role in India's performance at the 2015 World Cup where the team reached the semi-finals.
This year's ceremony had its fair share of controversy as well since a division bench of the Delhi High Court on Saturday stayed a single-judge order directing the Centre to give the prestigious Dronacharya award to former chief national wrestling coach Vinod Kumar.
Indian tennis star Sania Mirza receiving the Khel Ratna from President Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.
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