Sharath Kamal Conferred Khel Ratna, Nikhat & Pragg Among 25 Arjuna Awardees
Sharath Kamal is India's most successful men's table-tennis player.
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Indian table tennis legend Achanta Sharath Kamal, who claimed three gold medals in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham this year, has been conferred the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award at the National Sports Awards ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Wednesday.
25 other sportspersons including World champion woman boxer Nikhat Zareen, steeplechaser Avinash Sable, CWG gold medallist triple jumper Eldhose Paul and young chess wizard R. Praggnanandhaa were conferred the prestigious Arjuna Award.
The Khel Ratna was the only award missing from the laurels achieved by Sharath, the most successful male table tennis player the country has ever produced, who has played in three Olympic Games, five Commonwealth Games and four Asian Games besides bagging the national title a record 10 times.
This year, he showed that there was still a lot of fight in the old dog as he emerged as the most successful member of the Indian contingent at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, winning gold medals in men's singles, mixed doubles and the Team event. He and teammate G Sathiyan claimed the silver medal in men's doubles.
Sharath had been awarded the Arjuna Award in 2004 and in 2019 was bestowed with the Padma Shri, India's fourth-highest civilian award.
Boxing sensation Nikhat Zareen, who became the world champion in May, Lakshya Sen, the men's singles badminton gold medallist at Commonwealth Games 2022, and the 2019 world silver medallist boxer Amit Panghal were among the recipients of the Arjuna Award.
Apart from these three, Triple jumper Eldhose Paul and steeplechaser Avinash Sable were also conferred with the Arjuna Award.
While Eldhose became the first Indian to win a CWG gold in the men's triple jump and became the first Indian to qualify for the final of the triple jump at the World Athletics Championships, Avinash Sable won a silver in the men's 3000m steeplechase and broke the Kenyan monopoly on the podium in the sport in the Birmingham CWG.
India cricket team captain Rohit Sharma's coach Dinesh Lad received the Dronacharya Award in the lifetime category.
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