HONOURING SPORTS STARS
President Ram Nath Kovind confers Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award on cricketer Virat Kohli ( above) and weightlifter Mirabai Chanu at the National Sports and Adventure Award function at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Tuesday.
New Delhi, Sept. 25: Cricketer Virat Kohli sent the shutterbugs into a clicking frenzy as he received the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, sharing the country’s highest sporting honour with diminutive world champion weightlifter Mirabai Chanu at the Rashtrapati Bhawan here on Tuesday.
Star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, who won gold medals in the Commonwealth and Asian Games this year, and junior world champion sprinter Hima Das were among the 20 sportspersons, who received the Arjuna Award from President Ram Nath Kovind here.
Kohli was accompanied by his actor wife Anushka Sharma, his mother Saroj Kohli and his elder brother Vikas at the ceremony.
Kohli is the third cricketer to be honoured with the Khel Ratna after batting legend Sachin Tendulkar ( 1997- 1998) and former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni ( 2007).
Kohli received the Arjuna award in 2013 and the Padma Shri last year.
Kohli arrived through a separate entry just before the start of the ceremony and left as soon as it got over.
Sharing the top honours with him was Chanu, who had received the Padma Shri earlier this year, was chosen for the Khel Ratna following her gold medal in 48kg category at the World Weightlifting Championships last year.
“It was a huge honour for me. I never expected I will receive the award so early in my career. It is one of the happiest moment of my life,” Chanu said.
Chanu, who missed the Asian Games due to a back injury, said she has started training again but will return to the international arena only in April next year.
“It’s been a week that I have started training again. The doctors have advised me to go slow so I will miss the World Championships in November. I am expecting to return at the Asian Championships in next April,” she said.
While the Khel Ratna award carries a prize purse of ` 7.5 lakh, the Arjuna awardees are given ` 5 lakh each along with a citation.
Besides the Khel Ratna and Arjuna awards, the President also gave away Dronacharya and Dhyan Chand awards to coaches, the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure awards, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy and Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar.
The awards, like every year, copped a fair share of controversies after wrestler Bajrang Punia’s threat to move court over Khel Ratna snub being the most prominent one. He eventually backed down after meeting Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore.
Before this, the Sports Ministry struck off compound archery coach Jiwanjot Singh Teja’s name from the list of Dronacharya awardees due to a past case of indiscipline.
The Dronacharya Award was presented to eight coaches this year, including cricket mentor Tarak Sinha and 39- year- old boxing coach C. A. Kuttappa.