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The Sports Ministry, on Friday, decided against bestowing the Arjuna award on former Khel Ratna winners Sakshi Malik and Mirabai Chanu, pruning the list to 27 but accepted an unprecedented five recommendations for the country's highest sporting honour this year.
Last week, the Justice (retd) Mukundakam Sharma-led selection committee had recommended 29 names for the Arjuna Award to the Sports Ministry.
The list also included Rio Olympics bronze medal-winning wrestler Sakshi and 2017 weightlifting world champion Mirabai, but the decision on bestowing the Arjuna on them was left to the discretion of Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju.
This was due to the fact that they had already won the Khel Ratna, the country's highest sporting honour.
The strange decision to include their names raised eyebrows and attracted criticism.
While Sakshi won the Khel Ratna in 2016 for her bronze in Rio, Mirabai was bestowed with the prestigious honour in 2018, after her exploits at the world championships the previous
The five Khel Ratna winners for this year would be star cricketer Rohit Sharma, wrestler Vinesh Phogat, Paralympic gold-winner Mariyappan Thangavelu, TT player Manika Batra, and women's hockey team captain Rani Rampal, the ministry confirmed in a formal press release.
In a first, the awards will be held virtually on August 29, the National Sports Day, instead of the Rashtrapati Bhavan this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The criteria for the awards takes into consideration the athletes' performances over a four-year period.
A weightage of 80 per cent is given to athletes winning medals at various international competitions with the remaining 20 per cent left to the discretion of the panel members.
Paddler Manika Batra's recommendation for the Khel Ratna raised doubts as she has not won anything of note since the Arjuna award on the back of her exploits at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast.
During this period, her world ranking has slipped to 63, but the ministry decided against rejecting her recommendation.
The recommendation of Rani Rampal also raised questions even though she helped the Indian hockey team secure a berth at the Tokyo Olympics, besides leading the team into the final of the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, where it lost to Japan 1-2.
The sports fraternity, though, lauded the Arjuna recommendation of Winter Olympic Games legend Shiva Keshavan, who has represented India six times in the luge event at the Games from 1998 to 2018.
Keshavan has won innumerable medals for India at the international level and has several world and Asian records to his name.
With the sports ministry pressing for recognition to indigenous sport, the Arjuna Award list also included an athlete from kho-kho (Sudhakar Sarika Kale).
List of awards:
1. RAJIV GANDHI KHEL RATNA AWARD
| S. No. | Name of the Sportsperson | Discipline |
| 1 | Shri Rohit Sharma | Cricket |
| 2 | Shri Mariyappan T. | Para Athletics |
| 3 | Ms. Manika Batra | Table Tennis |
| 4 | Ms. Vinesh | Wrestling |
| 5 | Ms. Rani | Hockey |
2. DRONACHARYA AWARD
A. Life - Time Category
| S. No. | Name of the Coach | Discipline |
| 1 | Shri Dharmendra Tiwary | Archery |
| 2 | Shri Purushotham Rai | Athletics |
| 3 | Shri Shiv Singh | Boxing |
| 4 | Shri Romesh Pathania | Hockey |
| 5 | Shri Krishan Kumar Hooda | Kabaddi |
| 6 | Shri Vijay Bhalchandra Munishwar | Para Powerlifting |
| 7 | Shri Naresh Kumar | Tennis |
| 8 | Shri Om Parkash Dahiya | Wrestling |
B. Regular Category
| S. No. | Name of the Coach | Discipline |
| 1 | Shri Jude Felix Sebastian | Hockey |
| 2 | Shri Yogesh Malviya | Mallakhamb |
| 3 | Shri Jaspal Rana | Shooting |
| 4 | Shri Kuldeep Kumar Handoo | Wushu |
| 5 | Shri Gaurav Khanna | Para Badminton |
3. ARJUNA AWARD
| S. No. | Name of the Sportsperson (Shri) | Discipline |
| 1 | Shri Atanu Das | Archery |
| 2 | Ms. Dutee Chand | Athletics |
| 3 | Shri Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy | Badminton |
| 4 | Shri Chirag Chandrasekhar Shetty | Badminton |
| 5 | Shri Vishesh Bhriguvanshi | Basketball |
| 6 | Subedar Manish Kaushik | Boxing |
| 7 | Ms. Lovlina Borgohain | Boxing |
| 8 | Shri Ishant Sharma | Cricket |
| 9 | Ms. Deepti Sharma | Cricket |
| 10 | Shri Sawant Ajay Anant | Equestrian |
| 11 | Shri Sandesh Jhingan | Football |
| 12 | Ms. Aditi Ashok | Golf |
| 13 | Shri Akashdeep Singh | Hockey |
| 14 | Ms. Deepika | Hockey |
| 15 | Shri Deepak | Kabaddi |
| 16 | Shri Kale Sarika Sudhakar | Kho Kho |
| 17 | Shri Dattu Baban Bhokanal | Rowing |
| 18 | Ms. Manu Bhaker | Shooting |
| 19 | Shri Saurabh Chaudhary | Shooting |
| 20 | Ms. Madhurika Suhas Patkar | Table Tennis |
| 21 | Shri Divij Sharan | Tennis |
| 22 | Shri Shiva Keshavan | Winter Sports |
| 23 | Ms. Divya Kakran | Wrestling |
| 24 | Shri Rahul Aware | Wrestling |
| 25 | Shri Suyash Narayan Jadhav | Para Swimming |
| 26 | Shri Sandeep | Para Athletics |
| 27 | Shri Manish Narwal | Para Shooting |
4. DHYAN CHAND AWARD
| S. No. | Name of the Sportsperson | Discipline |
| 1 | Shri Kuldip Singh Bhullar | Athletics |
| 2 | Ms. Jincy Philips | Athletics |
| 3 | Shri Pradeep Shrikrishna Gandhe | Badminton |
| 4 | Ms. Trupti Murgunde | Badminton |
| 5 | Ms. N. Usha | Boxing |
| 6 | Shri Lakha Singh | Boxing |
| 7 | Shri Sukhvinder Singh Sandhu | Football |
| 8 | Shri Ajit Singh | Hockey |
| 9 | Shri Manpreet Singh | Kabaddi |
| 10 | Shri J. Ranjith Kumar | Para Athletics |
| 11 | Shri Satyaprakash Tiwari | Para Badminton |
| 12 | Shri Manjeet Singh | Rowing |
| 13 | Late Shri Sachin Nag | Swimming |
| 14 | Shri Nandan P Bal | Tennis |
| 15 | Shri Netarpal Hooda | Wrestling |
5. TENZING NORGAY NATIONAL ADVENTURE AWARDS 2019
| S. No. | Name of the Sportsperson | Category |
| 1 | Ms. Anita Devi | Land Adventure |
| 2 | Col. Sarfraz Singh | Land Adventure |
| 3 | Shri Taka Tamut | Land Adventure |
| 4 | Shri Narender Singh | Land Adventure |
| 5 | Shri Keval Hiren Kakka | Land Adventure |
| 6 | Shri Satendra Singh | Water Adventure |
| 7 | Shri Gajanand Yadava | Air Adventure |
| 8 | Late Shri Magan Bissa | Life Time Achievement |
6. MAULANA ABUL KALAM AZAD (MAKA) TROPHY
| 1. | Panjab University, Chandigarh |
7. RASHTRIYA KHEL PROTSAHAN PURUSKAR
| S. No. | Category | Entity recommended for Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar, 2020 |
| 1. | Identification and Nurturing of Budding and Young Talent |
|
| 2. | Encouragement to sports through Corporate Social Responsibility | Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Ltd. |
| 3. | Employment of sportspersons and sports welfare measures | Air Force Sports Control Board |
| 4. | Sports for Development | International Institute of Sports Management (IISM) |