Dutee Chand, Manu Bhaker among 29 athletes recommended for Arjuna Award

Ace sprinter Dutee Chand and shooter Manu Bhaker are among the 29 athletes who have been recommended for this year's Arjuna Award by the sports ministry's selection committee.

Apart from them, cricketer Ishant Sharma, Atanu Das, Deepika Thakur, Deepak Hooda, Divij Sharan, Mirabai Chanu, Sakshi Malik, and three Paralympians have been recommended for the Arjuna Award, a source within the Sports Ministry told .

"Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy have been recommended as a pair for the prestigious award," the source added.

Among other athletes recommended for Arjuna Award are: Atanu Das (archery), Satwik Sairaj Ranki Reddy and Chirag Shetty (badminton), Aakashdeep Singh and Deepika Kumari (hockey) and Deepak Hooda (kabaddi)

The National Sports Awards Selection Committee has handed over the recommendations for the National Sports Award of 2020 to the Sports Ministry.

For Dronacharya Lifetime award, eight names have been recommended -- Dharmendra Tiwary (archery), Pursohattam Rai (athletics), Shiv Singh (women's boxing), Romesh Patha (men's hockey), KK Hooda (kabaddi), Vijay Munishwar (para powerlifting), Naresh Kumar (tennis), and O P Dahiya (wrestling).

For the regular Dronacharya award, five names have been put forward -- Yogesh Malviya (Mallakhamb), Gaurav Khanna (para-badminton), Jaspal Rana (shooting), Kuldeep Handoo (wushu) and Jude Felix (hockey).

There are fifteen names which have been recommended for Dhyan Chand award -- Jincy Philips (athletics), Kuldeep Singh Bhullar (athletics), Trupti Murgunde (badminton), Pradeep Gandhe (badminton), N Usha (boxing), Lakha Singh (boxing), Sukhwinder Singh Sandhu (football), Ajeet Singh (hockey), Manpreet Singh (kabaddi), Manjeet Singh (rowing), Late Sachin Nag (swimming), Nandan Bal (tennis), Netar Pal Hooda (wrestling) and J Ranjit Kumar (para-athletics)

The National Sports Awards ceremony will take place virtually on August 29 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

National Sports Awards which include the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, the Arjuna award, the Dronacharya award, and the Dhyan Chand award, are conferred on athletes every year by the President of India at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on August 29, the National Sports Day.

However, this year, the names would be announced by President Ram Nath Kovind virtually.

( With inputs from ANI )