National Sports Awards 2020: President Ram Nath Kovind virtually honours 65 athletes; Rohit Sharma, Ishant Sharma miss ceremony

For the first time in the wake of coronavirus pandemic, the National Sports Awards was conducted virtually on Saturday, with a total of 65 awardees attending this year's ceremony from various locations across the country.

The award winners from nine different Sports Authority of India-designated locations were connected with the Indian President online from the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

A total of 74 sportspersons were chosen for the national awards, including five for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, eight for Dronacharya Award in Life- Time Category, five Dronacharya Award in regular category, a whopping 27 Arjuna awardees, 15 Dhyan Chand awardees. 

Indian opener Rohit Sharma, who has been honoured with this year's Khel Ratna award, and Arjuna awardee Ishant Sharma missed the ceremony as they are currently in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Meanwhile, Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat (Khel Ratna) and shuttler Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (Arjuna) were forced to pull out of the award ceremony after being diagnosed with the novel coronavirus.

Table tennis star Manika Batra, Paralympic gold-medallist Mariyappan Thangavelu and women's hockey skipper Rani Rampal--who are the other thee Khel Ratna awardees--attended the event. 

Meanwhile, Indian shooter Manu Bhaker, star sprinter Dutee Chand, woman cricketer Deepti Sharma, golfer Aditi Ashok,archer Atanu Das and men's hockey team striker Akashdeep Singh were among the top Arjuna awardees this year.

Punjab University was conferred with the prestigious Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy during the virtual ceremony.

Col. Sarfraz Singh, Taka Tamut, Late Maagan Bissa, Asnita Devi, Keval Hiren Kakka and Satendra Singh were honoured with the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award.

President Ram Nath Kovind congratulated all the athletes, coaches and sports associations for their efforts in taking the country's sports forward besides also pointing out that three out of the five Khel Ratna award winners are female athletes.

The President also stated that the deadly virus has disrupted all the sporting activities across the country and also forced the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The full list of National Sports Awards 2020 winners is as follows:

RAJIV GANDHI KHEL RATNA AWARD

Name of the Sportsperson	Discipline
Rohit Sharma	Cricket
Mariyappan T.	Para Athletics
Manika Batra	Table Tennis
Vinesh	Wrestling
Rani	Hockey

DRONACHARYA AWARD

Life- Time Category

Name of coach	Discipline
Dharmendra Tiwary	Archery
Purushotham Rai	Athletics
Shiv Singh	Boxing
Romesh Pathania	Hockey
Krishan Kumar Hooda	Kabaddi
Vijay Bhalchandra Munishwar	Para Powerlifting
Naresh Kumar	Tennis
Om Parkash Dahiya	Wrestling

 Regular Category

Name of the coach	Discipline
Jude Felix Sebastian	Hockey
Yogesh Malviya	Mallakhamb
Jaspal Rana	Shooting
Kuldeep Kumar Handoo	Wushu
Gaurav Khanna	Para Badminton

ARJUNA AWARD

Name	Discipline
Atanu Das	Archery
Dutee Chand	Athletics
Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy	Badminton
Chirag Chandrasekhar Shetty	Badminton
Vishesh Bhriguvanshi	Basketball
Subedar Manish Kaushik	Boxing
Lovlina Borgohain	Boxing
Ishant Sharma	Cricket
Deepti Sharma	Cricket
Sawant Ajay Anant	Equestrian
Sandesh Jhingan	Football
Aditi Ashok	Golf
Akashdeep Singh	Hockey
Deepika	Hockey
Deepak	Kabaddi
Kale Sarika Sudhakar	Kho Kho
Dattu Baban Bhokanal	Rowing
Manu Bhaker	Shooting
Saurabh Chaudhary	Shooting
Madhurika Suhas Patkar	Table Tennis
Divij Sharan	Tennis
Shiva Keshavan	Winter Sports
Divya Kakran	Wrestling
Rahul Aware	Wrestling
Suyash Narayan Jadhav	Para Swimming
Sandeep	Para Athletics
Manish Narwal	Para Shooting

  DHYAN CHAND AWARD

Name of the Sportsperson	Discipline
Kuldip Singh Bhullar	Athletics
Jincy Philips	Athletics
Pradeep Shrikrishna Gandhe	Badminton
Trupti Murgunde	Badminton
N. Usha	Boxing
Lakha Singh	Boxing
Sukhvinder Singh Sandhu	Football
Ajit Singh	Hockey
Manpreet Singh	Kabaddi
J. Ranjith Kumar	Para Athletics
Satyaprakash Tiwari	Para Badminton
Manjeet Singh	Rowing
Shri Sachin Nag	Swimming
Nandan P Bal	Tennis
Netarpal Hooda	Wrestling

Sports Awards are given every year to recognize and reward excellence in sports. Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award is given for the spectacular and outstanding performance in the field of sports by a sportsperson over a period of four years preceding the award; Arjuna Award is given for consistent outstanding performance for four years; Dronacharya Award goes to the coaches for producing medal winners at prestigious international sports events; Dhyan Chand Award is for life time contribution to sports development and Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar is given to the corporate entities (both in private and public sector) and individuals who have played a visible role in the area of sports promotion and development.

Every year on August 29, India celebrates its National Sports Day. The day is celebrated to honour the legendary hockey player Major Dhyan Chand. Rijiju will offer tributes to Major Dhyan Chand at Dhyan Chand Stadium in New Delhi in the morning before the awards function.