Olympian Manu Bhaker, chess champion D Gukesh, two others to receive Khel Ratna award

Double Olympic medalist Manu Bhaker, world chess champion D Gukesh, men's hockey team captain Harmanpreet Singh and paralympian Praveen Kumar will be honoured with the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award on January 17, the Sports Ministry announced. 

President of India, Droupadi Murmu will confer the award at a specially organised function at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on January 17.

Manu's name was initially missing from the list of nominees for the Khel Ratna award, the highest sporting honour in the country.

"Based on the recommendations of the Committee and after due scrutiny, Government has decided to confer awards upon the following sportspersons, coaches, university and entity," the ministry said in a statement.

The 22-year-old Bhaker became independent India's first athlete to win two medals in a single edition of the Olympics with her bronze-winning show in the 10m air pistol individual and 10m air pistol mixed team events in August.

In the same Games, Hamranpreet led the Indian hockey team to its second consecutive bronze medal.

The 18-year-old Gukesh, on the other hand, became the youngest ever World champion while also helping the Indian team win a historic gold in the Chess Olympiad last year.

The fourth recipient will be para high-jumper Praveen, who was crowned the T64 champion in the Paris Paralympics.

The T64 classification is for athletes who have one or both legs missing below the knee and rely on a prosthetic leg for running.

"The awardees will receive their awards from the President of India at a specially organised function at Rashtrapati Bhavan on 17th January, 2025 (Friday) at 1100 hours," the sports ministry said in a press release.