Cricket captain Kohli, lifter Chanu bask in Khel Ratna glory

President Ramnath Kovind presenting the Arjuna Award-2018 to Hima Das in recognition of her outstanding achievements in the sport of Athletics during the presentation of Sports and Adventure Award-2018 at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Tuesday. (UNI)
President Ramnath Kovind presenting the Arjuna Award-2018 to Hima Das in recognition of her outstanding achievements in the sport of Athletics during the presentation of Sports and Adventure Award-2018 at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Tuesday. (UNI)

Ace athlete Hima Das gets Arjuna Award

NEW DELHI, Sept 25 : Ace 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 today.
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.
The ceremony, which is traditionally held on August 29 to commemorate the birth anniversary of hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand, was pushed to September 25 this year to avoid a clash of dates with the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang, which concluded on September 2.
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)
The world’s No.1 Test batsman as per the ICC rankings, has been in stupendous form in the past three years though he missed out of the top award despite nominations in 2016 and 2017.
The 29-year-old Kohli has 6147 runs in 71 Tests with 23 centuries and 9779 runs in 211 ODIs, including 35 tons.
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 Champio-nships last year.
She also bagged the yellow metal in this year’s Commonwealth Games but didn’t compete at the Asian Games due to injury.
“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.
List of Awardees:
Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award: Virat Kohli and Mirabai Chanu.
Arjuna Awards: Neeraj Chopra, Jinson Johnson and Hima Das (Athletics); N Sikki Reddy (Badminton); Satish Kumar (Boxing); Smriti Mandhana (Cricket); Shubhankar Sharma (Golf); Manpreet Singh, Savita (Hockey), Ravi Rathore (Polo), Rahi Sarnobat, Ankur Mittal, Shreyasi Singh (Shooting); Manika Batra, G Sathiyan (Table Tennis); Rohan Bopanna (Tennis); Sumit (Wrestling); Pooja Kadian (Wushu); Ankur Dhama (Para-Athletics); Manoj Sarkar (Para-Badminton).
Dronacharya Awards: C A Kuttappa (Boxing); Vijay Sharma (Weightlifting); A Srinivasa Rao (Table Tennis); Sukhdev Singh Pannu (Athletics); Clarence Lobo (Hockey, Lifetime); Tarak Sinha (Cricket, Lifetime); Jiwan Kumar Sharma (Judo, Lifetime); V R Beedu (Athletics, Lifetime).
Dhyan Chand Awards: Satyadev Prasad (Archery); Bharat Kumar Chetry (Hockey); Bobby Aloysius (Athletics); Chougale Dadu Dattatray (Wrestling).
Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar 2018:
1. Identification and Nurturing of Budding & Young Talent: Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited.
2. Encouragement to Sports through Corporate Social Responsibility: JSW Sports
3. Sports for Development: Isha Outreach
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy 2017-18: Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. (PTI)

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