Sprinter Dutee Chand Among 27 Sportspersons To Get Arjuna Award

Bhubaneswar: Odisha sprinter Dutee Chand will be honoured with the Arjuna Award this year. She is among the 27 sportspersons to be conferred with the top sporting accolade.

Elated over her nomination for the award, Dutee shared a twitter post “Onward and upward! #arjunaaward.”

Onward and upward! #arjunaaward pic.twitter.com/saC1LOBS6V

— Dutee Chand (@DuteeChand) August 21, 2020

Atanu Das (Archery), Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy (Badminton), cricketers Ishant Sharma and Deepti Sharma and shooter Manu Bhaker, among others, have also been named for the award.

The sports ministry’s selection committee headed by Justice (Retd.) Mukundakam Sharma (former Judge of Supreme Court of India) had recommended names of 29 sportspersons for this year’s Arjuna award of which 27 names have been finalised.

The awardees will receive their awards from the President of India at a specially organized function through virtual mode from Rashtrapati Bhawan on August 29.

Last year, Dutee Chand's nomination for Arjuna award was rejected by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. The ministry had cited that apart from missing deadline, her medals were also not in order of ranking.

The Award is given by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India to recognize outstanding achievement in sports. Started in 1961, the award carries a cash prize of ₹5,00,000, a bronze statue of Arjuna and a scroll.