President Mukherjee confers National Sports Awards today

President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday gave away the national sports awards at Rashtrapati Bhawan on the occasion of National Sports Day. Rio Olympics Silver Medalist PV Sindhu, Bronze medalist Sakshi Malik, Gymnast Dipa Karmakar and Shooter Jitu Rai were conferred with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, which is given for the most outstanding performance by a sports person over a period of four years.

As many as six coaches have been honoured with Dronacharya Awards. They include Bishweshwar Nandi for Gymnastics, Nagapuri Ramesh for Athletics, Sagar Mal Dhayal for Boxing and Raj Kumar Sharma for Cricket.

The Dronacharya Award for Lifetime contribution has been conferred on S. Pradeep Kumar for Swimming and Mahabir Singh for Wrestling, while Athlete Satti Geetha, hockey player Sylvanus Dung Dung and Rower Rajendra Pralhad Shelke were given the Dhyanchand Award.

In addition, Arjuna Award was given to 15 sportspersons including boxer Shiva Thapa, Olympian runner Lalita Babar and wrestler Vinesh Phogat.

National sports day is celebrated to honour legendary hockey player, Major Dhyan Chand Singh who was born on 29th August, 1905. On the eve of National Sports Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met P V Sindhu, Sakshi Malik, Dipa Karmakar, Jitu Rai and other sports personalities at his residence in New Delhi.