National Sports Awards 2023: Satwik-Chirag nominated for Khel Ratna, Shami for Arjuna Award

The men’s doubles badminton pair of Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have been nominated for the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, it was reported on Wednesday, while Indian cricketer and pacer Mohammed Shami is in the race for this year’s Arjuna Award. As per the news agency PTI, Shami’s name was included in the list of the country’s second-highest sporting honour after a special request was made by the BCCI to the sports ministry. Shami played a major role in India’s brilliant run at the ODI World Cup 2023 where India reached the final with a 10-game streak. They lost in the final to Australia. Shami was the highest wicket-taker in the World Cup with 24 wickets in seven matches. 17 sportspersons in total have been nominated for the Arjuna Award including men’s hockey players Krishan Bahadur Pathak and Sushila Chanu, archers Ojas Pravin Deotale and Aditi Gopichand Swami, boxer Mohammad Hussamuddin, chess player R Vaishali, golfer Diksha Dagar, shooter Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, wrestler Antim Panghal and paddler Ayhika Mukherjee among others. The list for the Dronacharya Award, which is bestowed upon the coaches, includes Ganesh Prabhakaran (mallakhamb), Mahavir Saini (para athletics), Lalit Kumar (wrestling), RB Ramesh (chess) and Shivendra Singh (hockey). Kavita (kabaddi), Manjusha Kanwar (badminton) and Vineet Kumar Sharma (hockey) have been nominated for the Dhyan Chand Lifetime award. Nominees for Sports Awards: Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award: Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty (badminton). Arjuna Award: Mohammed Shami (cricket), Ajay Reddy (blind cricket) Ojas Pravin Deotale, Aditi Gopichand Swami (archery), Sheetal Devi (para archery), Parul Chaudhary and M Sreeshankar (athletics), Mohd Hussamuddin (boxing), R Vaishali (chess), Divyakriti Singh and Anush Agarwalla (equestrian), Diksha Dagar (golf), Krishan Bahadur Pathak and Sushila Chanu (hockey), Pinky (lawn ball), Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar (shooting), Antim Panghal (wrestling), Ayhika Mukherjee (table tennis). Dhyan Chand Lifetime Award: Kavita (kabaddi), Manjusha Kanwar (badminton) Vineet Kumar Sharma (hockey). Dronacharya Award: Ganesh Prabhakaran (mallakhamb), Mahavir Saini (para athletics), Lalit Kumar (wrestling), RB Ramesh (chess), Shivendra Singh (hockey).