Manu Bhaker to obtain Khel Ratna together with D Gukesh and two others, confirms Sports activities Ministry

The drama surrounding Manu Bhaker’s nomination for the Main Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award got here to an finish on Thursday after the double Olympic gold medallist was amongst 4 athletes finalised for the distinguished award together with chess sensation D Gukesh, who had lately been topped world champion. Apart from Bhaker and Gukesh, India males’s hockey captain Harmanpreet Singh and Paralympic gold-winning excessive jumper Praveen Kumar are the others who’ve been nominated for the best sporting honour within the nation.

Apart from the 4 Khel Ratna nominees, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports activities additionally unveiled 32 nominees for the Arjuna Awards, together with 17 para-athletes.

There had been a significant furore over Bhaker’s perceived exclusion from the nominees’ checklist for the Khel Ratna Award after the pistol shooter made historical past within the Paris Olympics by profitable two bronze medals in three occasions – changing into the primary Indian post-Independence to win a couple of medal in the identical version of the Olympics.

Whereas Bhaker questioned whether or not she was worthy of the award or not in a put up on X that she rapidly deleted afterwards, her father expressed remorse at introducing her to the game of taking pictures. Her coach Jaspal Rana too was livid along with her alleged snub.

Bhaker, nonetheless, would later admit that there might need been a “lapse on her half” whereas submitting for the nominaton, whereas the Sports activities Ministry had clarified they’d not finalised names for the award at that time.

Gukesh, in the meantime, made historical past in Singapore final month after defeating China’s Ding Liren 7.5-6.5 to grow to be the youngest world champion in chess historical past and solely the second after the legendary Viswanathan Anand. He was additionally the youngest champion within the historical past of the Candidates Event in April and had performed a key position within the Indian Open group bulldozing their strategy to gold within the forty fifth Chess Olympiad in September.

Harmanpreet, in the meantime had performed a central position in serving to India win a second consecutive Olympic bronze medal – marking the primary time the nation had received back-to-back medals within the sport in additional than 50 years.

The 28-year-old drag-flick skilled completed because the main goal-scorer within the event with a complete of 10 strikes. He would then go on to assist India win the Asian Champions Trophy for the second consecutive time, his group defeating hosts China 1-0 within the remaining.

Praveen, in the meantime, upgraded his silver medal on the Tokyo Paralympics to gold within the Paris Video games in September within the high-jump T64 class – a classification for para-athletes who’ve one or each legs lacking beneath the knee and depend on a prosthetic leg for working.

“The awardees will obtain their awards from the President of India at a specifically organised operate at Rashtrapati Bhavan on seventeenth January, 2025 (Friday) at 1100 hours,” learn a launch from the Mansukh Mandaviya-led Sports activities Ministry.