National Sports Awards 2024: Manu Bhaker, Harmanpreet Singh conferred with Khel Ratna - full winners list
Chess world champion Gukesh D and para-athlete Praveen Kumar will also receive the Khel Ratna in a ceremony on January 17 at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.
Olympic medallists Manu Bhaker, Harmanpreet Singh, chess world champion Gukesh D and para-athlete Praveen Kumar have been named recipients of the prestigious Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna, as announced on Thursday in the National Sports Awards 2024 list.
The Khel Ratna is India’s highest sporting honour in the National Sports Awards given annually by India's Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. Nominated sportspersons will receive their awards from the President of India at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on January 17.
Manu Bhaker, 22, is an Indian pistol shooter. She became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal in shooting with a bronze at the Paris 2024 Olympics in the women’s 10m air pistol event.
Days later, Manu teamed up with Sarabjot Singh to win bronze in the 10m air pistol mixed team event, making her the first athlete from independent India to win two medals at a single Olympic Games.
Meanwhile, Harmanpreet Singh led the Indian hockey team to its second consecutive bronze medal at the Olympics at Paris 2024. Regarded as one of the top drag-flickers in modern hockey, Harmanpreet was pivotal in India’s campaign, finishing as the tournament’s top scorer with 10 goals.
Gukesh, 18, was crowned the 2024 world chess champion in Singapore, becoming the youngest world chess champion and only the second Indian after Viswanathan Anand to win the title. He was part of the men’s team that won the Chess Olympiad in Budapest.
Para-athlete Praveen Kumar soared to victory in the men’s high jump T64 class with an Asian record at the Paris 2024 Paralympics. The 21-year-old Indian para-athlete cleared 2.08m in the final for his second Paralympic medal. He won the silver medal at Tokyo 2020.
Neeraj Chopra, despite winning the silver medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics in the javelin throw, could not be recommended for Khel Ratna as he has already won the award in the past.
Meanwhile, shooters Swapnil Kusale and Sarabjot Singh, along with wrestler Aman Sehrawat, all medallists at the Paris 2024 Olympics, are set to be conferred with the Arjuna Award - India’s second-highest sporting honour.
Indian women’s hockey captain Salima Tete along with Jyothi Yarraji and Annu Rani, medallists at the Asian Games in athletics are among those to be conferred with the Arjuna Award.
The National Sports Award also includes recognition for coaches with the Dronacharya Award and the overall top-performing university at the Khelo India University Games, which is given the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy.
National Sports Awards 2024 winners list
Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award 2024 winners
- Gukesh D - Chess
- Harmanpreet Singh - Hockey
- Praveen Kumar - Para-Athletics
- Manu Bhaker - Shooting
Arjuna Award 2024 winners
- Jyothi Yarraji - Athletics
- Annu Rani - Athletics
- Nitu Ghanghas - Boxing
- Saweety Boora - Boxing
- Vantika Agrawal - Chess
- Salima Tete - Hockey
- Abhishek - Hockey
- Sanjay - Hockey
- Jarmanpreet Singh - Hockey
- Sukhjeet Singh - Hockey
- Rakesh Kumar - Para-Archery
- Preeti Pal - Para-Athletics
- Jeevanji Deepthi - Para-Athletics
- Ajeet Singh - Para-Athletics
- Sachin Sarjerao Khilari - Para-Athletics
- Dharambir - Para-Athletics
- Pranav Soorma - Para-Athletics
- Hokato Hotozhe Sema - Para-Athletics
- Simran Sharma - Para-Athletics
- Navdeep Singh - Para-Athletics
- Nitesh Kumar - Para-Badminton
- Thulasimathi Murugesan - Para-Badminton
- Nithya Sre Sivan - Para-Badminton
- Manisha Ramadass - Para-Badminton
- Kapil Parmar - Para-Judo
- Mona Agarwal - Para-Shooting
- Rubina Francis - Para-Shooting
- Swapnil Kusale - Shooting
- Sarabjot Singh - Shooting
- Abhay Singh - Squash
- Sajan Prakash - Swimming
- Aman Sehrawat - Wrestling
Arjuna Awards (Lifetime) 2024 winners
- Sucha Singh - Athletics
- Murlikant Petkar - Para-Swimming
Dronacharya Award 2024 winners
Regular Category
- Subhash Rana - Para-Shooting
- Deepali Deshpande - Shooting
- Sandeep Sangwan - Hockey
Lifetime Category
- S Muralidharan - Badminton
- Armando Colaco - Football
Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar 2024 winner
- Physical Education Foundation of India
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy 2024 winners
- Chandigarh University - Overall winner University
- Lovely Professional University, (PB) - 1st runner up University
- Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar - 2nd runner up University