Sports Ministry Confirms Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty For Khel Ratna, Mohammed Shami For Arjuna award

Chirag and Satwik are Asian Games gold medallists, World Championships bronze winners and Commonwealth Games silver medallists.

The Sports Ministry on Wednesday put its stamp on the nominations for the annual sports awards, confirming the prestigious Khel Ratna honour for badminton players Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and the Arjuna award for 26 sports persons, including pacer Mohammed Shami. The awards will be conferred on the athletes by President Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on January 9. Chirag and Satwik are Asian Games gold medallists, World Championships bronze winners and Commonwealth Games silver medallists.

On the other hand, Shami, 33, had a spectacular run in the ODI World Cup, where India finished second-best, losing to Australia in the final.

Shami was the leading wicket-taker in the World Cup, with 24 wickets to his name in seven outings.

The athletes selected for this year's Arjuna award include hockey players Krishan Bahadur Pathak and Sushila Chanu, archers Ojas Pravin Deotale and Aditi Gopichand Swami, boxer Mohammad Hussamuddin, chess player R Vaishali, golfer Diksha Dagar, shooters Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and Esha Singh, wrestlers Antim Panghal and Sunil Kumar, paddler Ayhika Mukherjee and para archer Sheetal Devi, among others.

The athletes were nominated for the awards by a government panel on December 13.