It wasn’t long ago when 11 LPU students participated in the Tokyo Olympics 2020 and bagged Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals in their respective fields creating history. We are very familiar with the names of Neeraj Chopra, Gold medalist, and Manpreet Singh, the captain of the men’s hockey team that won the Bronze medal. Now, if I tell you these names along with many others are being awarded the highest sporting honor, how would you feel? Ecstatic, right? That’s how our entire nation is feeling right now!
Neeraj Chopra and Manpreet Singh are among the 12 athletes who are receiving the honor of the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award, the ceremony of which will take place in Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi on 13th November 2021 at 4:30 PM. It wasn’t the first time for the Gold medalist to be named for the Khel Ratna award. He has been nominated for this award since 2018 where he won the Arjuna award for winning a Gold medal in the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. He was again nominated in the subsequent years 2019 and 2020 after winning Gold in Asian Games 2018. Khel Ratna award is provided keeping in mind the performance of the athlete in the past four years on various platforms. This year, after bagging a Gold medal in the Olympics, he is finally receiving the much-awaited honor for raising the stature of the Indian Flag in front of the world!
Along with Neeraj Chopra, 11 other athletes are getting this award along with LPU student Manpreet Singh, who was first nominated for the Arjuna award along with the rest of the Hockey team members. Now, he is joining his fellow hockey mate P R Sreejesh (Goalkeeper) to accept this honor. The other recipients of the Khel Ratna award are Lovlina Borohain (boxing), Ravi Kumar Dahiya (wrestling), Sunil Chhetri (football), Mithali Raj (cricket), and Paralympics medalists Krishna Nagar, Manish Narwal, Avani Lekhara, Sumit Antil, and Pramod Bhagat. Not only these 12 athletes are being given this prestigious award, but 35 other athletes are also getting the Arjuna award this year including Shikhar Dhawan, Simranjit Kaur, Vandana Katariya, Bhavina Patel, Bhavani Devi, the entire hockey team with the exceptions of Manpreet and Sreejesh, and LPU student and para-athlete Nishad Kumar!
India has won a total of 7 medals in the Tokyo Olympics 2020 and 19 medals in Tokyo Paralympics 2020, the highest count of India to date! This has resulted in a greater number of recipients of the Khel Ratna award, Arjuna award, and Dronacharya award this year as this has been a year full of success and glory across all formats in sports! Let’s congratulate LPU students Neeraj Chopra, Manpreet Singh, and Nishad Kumar, and other athletes on getting what they have deserved through their hard work and success!
