On the birth anniversary of hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand, on August 29, 2020, annually celebrated as India’s sports day, President Ram Nath Kovind honoured record 74 sports heroes in the first virtual National Sports Awards ceremony due to the coronavirus pandemic. The award winners were connected virtually to President Ram Nath Kovind at the Rashtrapati Bhavan from nine different Sports Authority of India-designated locations. The 2020 National Sports awards included five Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awardees and 27 Arjuna awardees.
Increase in Prize Money The prize money for various sports awards was increased this year—the Khel Ratna award was increased to Rs 25 lakh from the previous amount of Rs 7.5 lakh; Arjuna awards to Rs 15 lakh, which is Rs 10 lakh more than the previous sum, the Dhronacharya (Lifetime) awardees, who were earlier given Rs 5 lakh were awarded Rs 15 lakh; the Dhronacharya came with Rs 10 lakh instead of Rs 5 lakh earlier. Dhyanchand awardees were given Rs 10 lakh instead of Rs 5 lakh previously.
Former India athletic coach Purushotham Rai, 79, passed away due to a heart attack just hours before receiving the Dronacharya Award, the highest sporting award for a coach in India.
Winners of 2020 National Sports Award
The awardees include—
Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award Rohit Sharma (Cricket), Mariyappan Thangavelu (Para Athletics), Manika Batra (Table Tennis), Vinesh Phogat (Wrestling), Rani Rampal (Hockey).
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 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). Regular Category: Jude Felix (Hockey), Yogesh Malviya (Mallakhamb), Jaspal Rana (Shooting), Kuldeep Kumar Handoo (Wushu), Gaurav Khanna (Para Badminton).
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 National Adventure Awards Anita Devi (Land Adventure), Col Sarfraz Singh (Land Adventure), Taka Tamut (Land Adventure), Narender Singh (Land Adventure), Keval Hiren Kakka (Land Adventure), Satendra Singh (Water Adventure), Gajanand Yadava (Air Adventure), Late Magan Bissa (Lifetime Achievement).
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy Panjab University, Chandigarh