Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli and world champion weightlifter Mirabai Chanu will receive the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna on September 25, the sports ministry announced on Thursday.
The list of awardees had already been made public, but the ministry made it official on Thursday.
Star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra was among 20 sportspersons who will receive the Arjuna Award, and they will be honoured by President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhawan.
On Wednesday, archery coach Jiwanjot Singh Teja was dropped from the list of Dronacharya Award nominees because of a previous case of indiscipline. He had served a one-year ban following an incident during the 2015 World University Games in South Korea.
Teja had been among five coaches named by the selection committee for the award.
Kohli, the world’s No.1 Test batsman, has been in stupendous form for the past three years, though he missed out of the top award despite nominations in 2016 and 2017. he 29-year-old has 6,147 runs in 71 Tests with 23 centuries and 9,779 runs in 211 One Day-Internationals, including 35 tons.
Chanu was chosen for the prestigious award following her gold medal win in the 48kg category at the World Championships last year. He came out on top at this year’s Commonwealth Games, too, but didn’t compete at the Asian Games on account of injury.
The President will also present the Dronacharya and Dhyan Chand Awards on the same day.
The list of awardees:
Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award: Virat Kohli and Mirabai Chanu.
Arjuna Awards: Neeraj Chopra, Jinson Johnson and Hima Das (athletics); N. Sikki Reddy (badminton); Satish Kumar (boxing); Smriti Mandhana (cricket); Shubhankar Sharma (golf); Manpreet Singh and Savita (hockey); Ravi Rathore (polo); Rahi Sarnobat, Ankur Mittal and Shreyasi Singh (shooting); Manika Batra and G. Sathiyan (table tennis); Rohan Bopanna (tennis); Sumit (wrestling); Pooja Kadian (wushu); Ankur Dhama (para-athletics); Manoj Sarkar (para-badminton).
Dronacharya Awards: C. A. Kuttappa (boxing); Vijay Sharma (weightlifting); A. Srinivasa Rao (table tennis); Sukhdev Singh Pannu (athletics); Clarence Lobo (hockey, lifetime); Tarak Sinha (cricket, lifetime); Jiwan Kumar Sharma (judo, lifetime); V. R. Beedu (athletics, lifetime).
Dhyan Chand Awards: Satyadev Prasad (archery); Bharat Kumar Chetry (hockey); Bobby Aloysius (athletics); Chougale Dadu Dattatray (wrestling).
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