Rajiv Khel Ratna conferred on badminton star Saina Nehwal

President Pratibha Patil presenting the Dronacharya Award-2010 to Captain Chandrup for Wrestling, in a glittering ceremony, at Rashtrapati Bhawan, in New Delhi on August 29, 2010.

President Pratibha Patil conferred the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna for 2010, the country's highest award in sports, on badminton star Saina Nehwal as well as the Arjuna Awards on 14 other sportsmen at a glittering ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan here today

Nehwal, the Hyderabad-based world number two, could not receive the award in person because she has not returned from Paris, where she lost in the quarter-finals of the World Championships last week. The award consists of a medal, a citation and a cash prize of Rs 7.5 lakh.

The Arjuna Awards for 2010 were received by Joseph Abraham (Athletics), Krishna Poonia (Athletics), Dinesh Kumar (Boxing), Parimrajan Negi (Chess), Jhulan Goswami (Cricket-Women), Deepak Kumar Mandal (Football), Sandeep Singh (Hockey-Men), Dinesh Kumar (Kabaddi), Sanjeev Rajput (Shooting), Rehan Jehangir Poncha (Swimming), Kapil Dev K.J. (Volleyball), Rajeev Tomar (Wrestling), Rajesh Chaudhary (Yachting) and Jagseer Singh (Paralympic Athletics).

Ms Jasjeet Kaur Handa (Hockey-Women) also an Arjun Awardee, could not attend the ceremony as she is currently abroad participating in an international tournament. The Award carries a statuette, citation and an enhanced cash prize of Rs 5 lakh each.

Satish Pillai (Athletics), Kuldeep Singh (Wrestling) and Anita Chanu (Weightlifting) were conferred Dhyan Chand Awards for the year 2010, for their contribution to sports by their performance and efforts to promote the sports. The award carries a statuette, citation and a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh each.

The President also gave away Dronacharya Awards for the this year to A.K. Kutty (Athletics), Subhash B. Aggarwal (Billiards & Snooker), L. Ibomcha Singh (Boxing), Ajay Kumar Bansal (Hockey) and Captain Chandrup (Wrestling) in recognition of their meritorious achievements in the field of coaching. The award carries a statuette, citation and enhanced cash prize of Rs 5 lakh each.

The Services Sports Control Board was given the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar Award for the year 2010, under the category of Community Sports Identification and Nurturing of Budding Young Talent. Defence Minister A.K. Antony received this award.

The Khel Evam Yuva Kalyan Vibhag, Government of Madhya Pradesh also received the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar for Establishment and Management of Sports Academies of Excellence. The Chief Minister of the State, Mr Shivraj Singh Chauhan, received this award.

The Award was also conferred upon the Services Sports Control Board for Employment of sportsperson and sports welfare measures. The same Award was also conferred upon Tata Steel Limited for Financial Support for Sports Excellence. The Award carries a trophy and citation.

As a result of switchover to current year format, two universities have been selected for Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy (MAKA). For the year 2008-09 , Punjabi University, Patiala has been awarded Trophy while Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar has been awarded for the year 2009-10. Both the universities received a cash prize of Rs.10 lakh each and Rolling Trophy along with a small replica of the MAKA Trophy for retention by the Universities. While Punjabi University will keep the trophy for the first six months, Guru Nanak Dev University will keep the trophy for next six months.

The President also conferred Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Awards for the year 2009 to recognize the contribution and performance of the awardees in the field of adventure sports. Ms. Chandraprabha Aitwal was given Life Time Achievement Award. Kamlesh Kumar Bounthiyal received the award for Land Adventure, Wg. Com. Jai Kishan for Air Adventure and Sufyan Sheikh for Water Adventure. The award carries cash prize of Rs 5 lakh and bronze statuette along with a citation.

Among others, Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports M S Gill, Minister for Tribal Affairs Kanti Lal Bhuria and Minister for New & Renewable Energy Resources Farooq Abdullah attended the ceremony.

NNN