Sports Minister Anurag Thakur on Monday handed over trophies to the winners of National Sports Awards 2020 after the award ceremony which was held virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Assam’s own Lovlina Borgohain was also present to receive her Arjuna Award for Tokyo Olympics 2020.
Assam’s pride Lovlina Borgohain
Lovlina Borgohain won a bronze medal in the 2020 Summer Olympics in the women’s welterweight event, becoming the third Indian boxer to win a medal at the Olympics.
She additionally gained a bronze medal at the 2018 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships and the 2019 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships.
She also won the gold medal at the 1st India Open International Boxing Tournament held in New Delhi and the silver medal at the 2nd India Open International Boxing Tournament held in Guwahati.
Borgohain is the first woman athlete and the second boxer from Assam to symbolize the country in the Olympics.
Prior Cash Prizes
All the winners of the National Sports Awards 2020 had already obtained their cash awards. But the awardees were unable to collect their trophies and citations because of the second wave of the pandemic.
On August 29 last, the Sports Ministry had conferred 74 National Sports Awards which included 5 Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna (now renamed as Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna) and 27 Arjuna awards.
The awardees who attended Monday’s ceremony at a hotel were women’s hockey captain Rani Rampal, famous wrestler Vinesh Phogat and 2016 Paralympics gold winner Thangavelu Mariyappan, who had been given the prestigious Khel Ratna.
Anurag Thakur tweets to congratulate
“Congratulations to all the Awardees of Khel Ratna 2020, Arjuna Award 2020, Dronacharya Award 2020 (Lifetime & Regular category). Wishing you even greater success ahead! #NationalSportsAward2020
“The National Sports Awards is a prestigious award that is won by athletes after years of dedication and hard work. Congratulations to all the awardees and the very best for their future events. The journey of the awardees doesn’t end here, there is more to be achieved,” Thakur said during the function.
“We must also continue to look for talented athletes, groom them and make them capable of winning medals at the international level. So I request all the athletes to take the pledge of at least grooming and training five such athletes who can win medals for India in the future.”
List of awardees
Khel Ratna Award: Rohit Sharma (Cricket), Mariyappan Thangavelu (Para-Athletics), Manika Batra (Table Tennis), Vinesh Phogat (Wrestling), Rani Rampal (Hockey).
Arjuna Awardees
Arjuna Award: Atanu Das (Archery), Dutee Chand (Athletics), Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy (Badminton), Chirag Chandrasekhar Shetty (Badminton), Vishesh Bhriguvanshi (Basketball), 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 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).
Dronacharya Awardees
Dronacharya Award (Life-Time Category): 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).
Dronacharya (Regular Category): Jude Felix (Hockey), Yogesh Malviya (Mallakhamb), Jaspal Rana (Shooting), Kuldeep Kumar Handoo (Wushu), Gaurav Khanna (Para Badminton).
Dhyan Chand Awardees
Dhyan Chand Award: 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), Late Shri Sachin Nag (Swimming), Nandan Bal (Tennis), Netarpal Hooda (Wrestling).
Tenzing Norgay Awardees
Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Awards: Anita Devi (Land Adventure), Col Sarfraz Singh (Land Adventure), Taka Tamut (Land Adventure), Keval Hiren Kakka (Land Adventure), Satendra Singh (Water Adventure), Gajanand Yadava (Air Adventure), Late Magan Bissa (Life Time Achievement).
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy: Panjab University, Chandigarh.
