Sharath Kamal will be the second player in table tennis to be awarded the Khel Ratna honor after Manika Batra.
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The National Sports Awards Selection Committee has recommended Indian Table Tennis legend Sharath Kamal for the highest sporting honor of India, Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award for the year 2022. Besides Sharath’s nomination, the selection committee has also recommended 25 athletes for the Arjuna Awards. The Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award, which was renamed the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, last year and the Arjuna Award are presented yearly by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports of India.
Sharath Kamal will be the second player in table tennis to be awarded the Khel Ratna honor after Manika Batra. Earlier this year, the 40-year-old table tennis champion claimed three gold medals and one silver in the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham. This included gold in the individual, men’s team and mixed team events and the silver in men’s doubles event.
The four gold medalists from the Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2022, shuttler Lakshya Sen, world champion pugilist Nikhat Zareen, experienced Amit Panghal, and triple jumper Eldhose Paul have been nominated for the Arjuna award. Star athletes including Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra, two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu, Tokyo 2020 medalists Bajrang Punia and Ravi Kumar Dahiya didn’t find a place in the awards list as they had previously won the Khel Ratna Award.
Indian Men’s Cricket Team skipper Rohit Sharma’s coach Dinesh Lad has been nominated for the Dronacharya Award in the ‘lifetime’ category. While wrestler Bajrang Punia’s coach Sujit Mann, boxing coach Mohammad Ali Qamar and archery coach Jiwanjot Singh Teja have made it to the list in the regular category. Former Olympian and rifle shooter and present High Performance coach of the Indian Junior Rifle Shooting Team Suma Shirur is also among the nominees.
Sharath Kamal (Table Tennis)
Seema Punia (Athletics)
Eldhose Paul (Athletics)
Avinash Sable (Athletics)
Lakshya Sen (Badminton)
Hs Prannoy (Badminton)
Amit Panghal (Boxing)
Nikhat Zareen (Boxing)
Bhakti Kulkarni (Chess)
R Praggnanandha (Chess)
Deep Grace Ekka (Hockey)
Shushila Devi (Judo)
Sakshi Kumari (Kabaddi)
Nayan Moni Saikia (Lawn Bowls)
Sagar Ovhalkar (Mallakhamb)
Elavenil Valarivan (Shooting)
Om Prakash Mitharval (Shooting)
Sreeja Akula (Table Tennis)
Vikas Thakur (Weightlifting)
Anshu Malik (Wrestling)
Sarita Mor (Wrestling)
Parveen (Wushu)
Manasi Joshi (Para Badminton)
Tarun Dhillon (Para Badminton)
Swapnil Patil (Para Swimming)
Jerlin Anika J (Deaf Badminton)
Dinesh Lad (Cricket)
Sujit Mann (Wrestling)
Mohammad Ali Qamar (Boxing)
Jiwanjot Singh Teja (Archery)
Suma Shirur (Para Shooting)
