Manu, Gukesh Among Four To Receive Khel Ratna From President Murmu At Rashtrapati Bhavan

 Double Olympic-medallist shooter Manu Bhaker and teenage chess world champion D Gukesh received a euphoric round of applause as they walked up to receive the prestigious Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna from President Droupadi Murmu in a glittering National Sports Awards ceremony here on Friday.
The other two recipients of the country’s highest sporting honour were men’s hockey captain Harmanpreet Singh and Paralympic gold-winning high jumper Praveen Kumar when the annual honours were bestowed at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here.
Harmanpreet was a part of the national sides that won bronze medals in the Tokyo as well as Paris Olympics. Praveen, on the other hand, upgraded his silver at the Japanese capital to a gold last year in Paris. He was born with a short left leg.
Thirty-two athletes are being honoured with the Arjuna Award out of which an unprecedented 17 are para-athletes.
The athletes selected for the Arjuna award include Paris Olympics bronze medal-winning group of wrestler Aman Sehrawat, shooters Swapnil Kusale and Sarabjot Singh and the men’s hockey team players Jarmanpreet Singh, Sukhjeet Singh, Sanjay and Abhishek.
The para-athletes outnumbered the able-bodied ones in the list of Arjuna winners this time due to the magnificent Paris Paralympics performance in which they returned with 29 medals, including seven gold and nine silver.