D Gukesh, Manu Bhaker, and two other athletes received the Khel Ratna Award.

Summary: Manu Bhaker, D Gukesh, Harmanpreet Singh, and Paralympian Praveen Kumar to receive Khel Ratna.

On Thursday, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports announced the National Sports Awards for 2024. Manu Bhaker, D Gukesh, Harmanpreet Singh, and Praveen Kumar have received the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award.

Manu's name was missing from the list of nominees for the Khel Ratna, the country's top sporting accolade. Bhaker, 22, became India's first athlete to win two medals in a single Olympics edition. She won bronze in the 10m air pistol individual and mixed team events in August.

The 18-year-old Gukesh, on the other hand, helped the Indian team win a record gold in the Chess Olympiad last year and became the youngest-ever World champion.

The Indian hockey team won its second straight bronze under Hamranpreet's leadership. Praveen, a para high-jumper, won the T64 title at the Paralympics in Paris.

President Droupadi Murmu will present the award on January 17, during a specially planned event held at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.

The ministry said, “Based on the recommendations of the Committee and after due scrutiny, the Government has decided to confer awards upon the following sportspersons, coaches, universities, and entities.”

Athletes who depend on a prosthetic leg for running and have one or both legs missing below the knee fall under the T64 classification.

While these four will receive the Khel Ratna Award, the other 32 athletes, 17 of them para-athletes, will receive the Arjuna Award.

Arjuna Awards Athletes: 

1. Jyothi Yarraji - Athletics
2. Annu Rani - Athletics
3. Nitu - Boxing
4. Saweety - Boxing
5. Vantika Agrawal - Chess
6. Salima Tete - Hockey
7. Abhishek - Hockey
8. Sanjay - Hockey
9. Jarmanpreet Singh - Hockey
10. Sukhjeet Singh - Hockey
11. Rakesh Kumar - Para-Archery
12. Preeti Pal - Para-Athletics
13. Jeevanji Deepthi - Para-Athletics
14. Ajeet Singh - Para-Athletics
15. Sachin Sarjerao - Para-Athletics
16. Khilari, Dharambir - Para-Athletics
17. Pranav Soorma - Para-Athletics
18. H Hokato Sema - Para-Athletics
19. Simran - Para-Athletics
20. Navdeep - Para-Athletics
21. Nitesh Kumar - Para-Badminton
22. Thulasimathi Murugesan - Para-Badminton
23. Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan - Para-Badminton
24. Manisha Ramadass - Para-Badminton
25. Kapil Parmar - Para-Judo
26. Mona Agarwal - Para-Shooting
27. Rubina Francis - Para-Shooting
28. Swapnil Suresh Kusale - Shooting
29. Sarabjot Singh - Shooting
30. Abhay Singh - Squash
31. Sajan Prakash - Swimming
32. Aman - Wrestling

Arjuna Lifetime Awards: Sucha Singh (Athletics), Murlikant Rajaram Petkar (Para-Swimming)

Dronacharya Awards for Outstanding Coaches:

• Subhash Rana - Para-Shooting
• Deepali Deshpande - Shooting
• Sandeep Sangwan - Hockey
• S Muralidharan - Badminton
• Armando Agnelo Colaco - Football