Ishant Sharma, Dutee Chand among 29 athletes recommended for Arjuna Award

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

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 ANI.

“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 Pathania (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).