Full list of nominees for National Sports Awards 2023

A total of 18 athletes have been nominated for Arjuna awards.

The nominations for National Sports Awards 2023 is out and several stars have been nominated for Khel Ratna and Arjuna awards. Apart from the current athletes, few coaches are in contention for the Dhronacharya award and the winners for the same will be announced in the coming days.

India’s no.1 men’s doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty are the lone nominee for highest sporting honour – Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. They had a successful season this year winning the Asian Badminton Championships and the Hangzhou Asian Games. Furthermore, the former world no.1 also became the first Indian pair to clinch BWF Super 1000 title – Indonesia Open.

A total of 18 athletes have been nominated for the Arjuna Awards. One name which stands out is that of Para archer Sheetal Devi. She became the first armless archer to clinch silver medal at World Para Archery Championships and by the virtue of this result qualified for Paris Paralympics 2024.

Meanwhile, Vaishali who recently became the third female Grand Master from India is also amongst the list. RB Ramesh who has been the coach of siblings Praggnanandhaa and Vaishali is in the reckoning for the Dhronacharya award.

Full list of nominees for National Sports Awards 2023

Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award

Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty (badminton)

Arjuna Award

• Mohammed Shami (Cricket)
• Ajay Reddy (Blind cricket)
• Ojas Pravin Deotale (Archery)
• Aditi Gopichand Swami (Archery)
• Sheetal Devi (Para archery)
• Parul Chaudhary (Athetics)
• Murali Sreeshankar (Athletics)
• Mohd Hussamuddin (Boxing)
• R.Vaishali (Chess)
• Divyakriti Singh (Equestrian)
• Anush Agarwalla (Equestrian)
• Diksha Dagar (Golf)
• Krishan Bahadur Pathak (Hockey)
• Sushila Chanu (Hockey)
• Pinky (Lawn ball)
• Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar (Shooting)
• Antim Panghal (Wrestling)
• Ayhika Mukherjee (Table Tennis)

Dronacharya Award

• Ganesh Prabhakaran (Mallakhamb)
• Mahavir Saini (Para Athletics)
• Lalit Kumar (Wrestling)
• RB Ramesh (Chess)
• Shivendra Singh (Hockey)

Dhyan Chand Lifetime Award

• Kavita (Kabaddi)
• Manjusha Kanwar (Badminton)
• Vineet Kumar Sharma (Hockey)

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