New Delhi, Sep 25 (UNI) India’s men’s cricket team captain Virat Kohli and world champion weightlifter Mirabai Chanu on Tuesday received the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award from President Ram Nath Kovind who presented the National Sports and Adventure Awards at a glittering ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhawan here.
Virat Kohli is the third cricketer after Sachin Tendulkar (1997) and MS Dhoni (2007) to receive the coveted award. He was watched by his smiling actor wife Anushka Sharma as he received the award from the President.
Twenty athletes were conferred the Arjuna Award including javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, sprinter Jinson Johnson and Hima Das, shuttler N Sikki Reddy, cricketer Smriti Mandhana and table tennis player Manika Batra.
Other Arjuna Award winners were Satish Kumar (Boxing), Shubhankar Sharma (Golf), Manpreet Singh (Hockey), Savita (Hockey), Col. Ravi Rathore (Polo), Rahi Sarnobat (Shooting), Ankur Mittal (Shooting), Shreyasi Singh (Shooting), G Sathiyan (Table Tennis), Rohan Bopanna (Tennis), Sumit (Wrestling), Pooja Kadian (Wushu), Ankur Dhama (Para-Athletics), Manoj Sarkar (Para-Badminton).
The President presented Dronacharya Awards for 2018 to Achaiah Kuttappa (Boxing), Vijay Sharma (Weightlifting), A. Srinivasa Rao (Table Tennis), Sukhdev Singh Pannu (Athletics), Clarence Lobo (Hockey Lifetime achievement), Tarak Sinha (Cricket Lifetime Achievement), Jiwan Kumar Sharma (Judo Lifetime Achievement), VR Beedu (Athletics Lifetime Achievement).
He gave away Dhyan Chand awards to Satyadev Prasad (Archery), Bharat Kumar Chetri (Hockey), Bobby Aloysius (Athletics), Chougale Dadu Dattatray (Wrestling).
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