On the event of National Sports Day 2017, 17 Indian athletes were honoured with the country’s most prestigious sports awards – the Arjuna Awards.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended his greetings on the event of National Sports Day and felicitated all the sports lovers of India with a hope that sports and sportsmanship will keep making the country proud. National Sports Day is celebrated on the birth anniversary of Indian hockey legend – Major Dhyan Chand, every year on 29th August; and each year top athletes are honoured with the prestigious Arjuna Awards.

This year, a total of 17 sportsmen and sportswomen received the prestigious Arjuna Awards from the President of India – Ramnath Kovind. Let’s take a look at who was honoured with Arjuna Awards this year.

Archery:

Jyothi Surekha Vennam – Swimmer-turned-archer, Jyothi Vennam has won an individual gold in the 2015 Asian Championship and has given multiple consistent performances at national and international levels.

Athletics:

Khushbir Kaur – With a bronze in the 10km race walk at the 2012 Asian Junior Championship at Colombo and then a silver at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon are two of the most famed achievements of the Punjabi female athlete.

Rajiv Arokia – Arokia won bronze in the 2014 Asian Games and finished second in the Asian Championships in Bhubaneswar last month for 400m running race.

Basketball:

Prashanti Singh – Prashanti Singh made her debut to play for India in 2002, represented India at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games in 2010 and 2014. With so much experience, Singh is one of the most known sportswoman faces in India.

Boxing:

Devendro Singh – Representing India since a decade at international boxing platforms, the boxer’s biggest achievement was winning the silver at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014.

Cricket:

Cheteshwar Pujara – Having made his Test debut in 2010, Pujara recently played his 50th Test during the second game of the just concluded series against Sri Lanka.

Harmanpreet Kaur – A part of Indian women’s cricket team that ended runners-up in the 2017 ICC Women’s World Cup, Harmanpreet has become a famous name in recent times with her consistent showing on the cricket field; Kaur is also the first Indian to play in Big Bash League.

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Football:

Oinam Bembem Devi – As a prominent member of the Indian women’s football team that won gold at the 2016 South Asian Games, Oinam Devi will be the second woman footballer after Shanti Mullick to receive the prestigious award.

Golf:

Shiv Chawrasia – In 2008, he won the Indian Masters and also has eight title on the Indian Tour. Chawrasia also made his Asian Tour debut in 2006 and has won six titles ever since, to become one of the very few active Indians in golf.

Hockey:

SV Sunil – On National Sports Day, at least one hockey player must be honoured, and who can be better choice than the hockey star who was adjudicated Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) Player of the Year in 2016.

Kabaddi:

Jasvir Singh – He has been a vital cog of the national team and was also a member of the team that finished with a gold in the 2014 Incheon Asian Games and the 2016 World Cup.

Para Athletics:

Thangavelu Mariyappan – He won gold at the 2016 Rio Paralympics in high jump and in the process became the first Indian to win gold since 2004.

Varun Bhati – The high jumper picked bronze at the 2016 Paralympic Games and once again he claimed bronze at the World Para Athletics Championships 2017 in London.

Shooting:

Prakash Nanjappa -The pistol shooter won bronze in the 10m air pistol at the 2013 World Cup, then won silver at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and followed it up with a team bronze at the Incheon Asian Games in 2016.

Table Tennis:

Anthony Amalraj – Tamil Nadu born athlete who has won a silver at the 2014 Commonwealth Games with his partner as well as opponent – table tennis star Sharath Kamal.

Tennis:

Saketh Myneni – There has been a lot of debate on whether Rohan Bopanna should have been handed the award, but the jury went with the Davis Cupper won two medals at 2014 Incheon Asian Games.

Wrestling:

Satyawart Kadian – He first represented India at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games and ended up with the bronze medal. He recently won a gold at the 2016 Commonwealth Championship.

All these athletes were honoured with Arjuna Award by President Ram Nath Kovind at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, yesterday.

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