Manu Bhaker wins Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna as Sports Ministry bows down, world chess champ D Gukesh and hockey captain Harmanpreet Singh also bag top honour

Double Olympic medal-winning shooter Manu Bhaker has been awarded the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna along with hockey captain Harmanpreet Singh, newly crowned world chess champion D. Gukesh and para-high jumper Praveen Kumar, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) announced on Thursday. Manu had initially been left out of the lift of athletes in the running to win the Khel Ratna due to error in applying for the award.

However, after tremendous uproar from all quarters, including Manu Bhaker’s father Ram Kishan Bhaker, on social media the Sports Ministry have bowed down and awarded India’s highest sporting honour to the Indian shooter who won two medals at the Paris Olympics 2024.

The National Sports Awards distribution will take place at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi on January 17, the MYAS release stated.

The 22-year-old Bhaker became independent India’s first athlete to win two medals in a single edition of the Olympics with her bronze-winning show in the 10m air pistol individual and 10m air pistol mixed team events in August.

In the same Games, Hamranpreet led the Indian hockey team to its second consecutive bronze medal. The 18-year-old Gukesh, on the other hand, became the youngest ever World champion while also helping the Indian team win a historic gold in the Chess Olympiad last year.

The fourth recipient will be para high-jumper Praveen, who was crowned the T64 champion in the Paris Paralympics. The T64 classification is for athletes who have one or both legs missing below the knee and rely on a prosthetic leg for running.

“The awardees will receive their awards from the President of India at a specially organised function at Rashtrapati Bhavan on 17th January, 2025 (Friday) at 1100 hours,” the sports ministry said in a press release.

2024 being the Olympics year, 32 athletes were awarded the Arjuna awards which include other Paris Games medallists like Aman Sehrawat, Swapnil Kusale and Sarabjot Singh.

Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna: Manu Bhaker (Shooting), D. Gukesh (Chess), Harmanpreet Singh (hockey) and Praveen Kumar (Para-athletics)

Arjuna Awards: Jyothi Yarraji (Athletics), Annu Rani (Athletics), Nitu (Boxing), Saweety (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), H Hokato Sema (Para-Athletics), Simran (Para-Athletics), Navdeep (Para-Athletics), Nitesh Kumar (Para-Badminton), Thulasimathi Murugesan (Para-Badminton), Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan (Para-Badminton), Manisha Ramadass (Para-Badminton), Kapil Parmar (Para-Judo), Mona Agarwal (Para-Shooting), Rubina Francis (Para-Shooting), Swapnil Suresh Kusale (Shooting), Sarabjot Singh (Shooting), Abhay Singh (Squash), Sajan Prakash (Swimming), Aman (Wrestling)