D Gukesh, Manu Bhaker receive Khel Ratna awards from President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan: Watch

Youngest world chess champion D Gukesh recieved the prestigious Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award from President Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Friday. Gukesh, at the age of 18, dethroned Ding Liren when the Indian defeated the Chinese last month in Singapore. 

Along with Gukesh, India men's hockey captain Harmanpreet Kaur, para-athlete Praveen Kumar and shooter Manu Bhaker also received the same for their contributions in the field of sports.      

Gukesh became the second Indian after Viswanathan Anand to become a chess world champion. Meanwhile, Harmanpreet was the captain of the Indian hockey team when they won bronze at the Paris Olympics last year. He was also the part of the Indian side that won bronze in Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

Praveen, on the other hand, upgraded his silver at the Japanese capital to a gold last year in Paris. He was born with a short left leg. Speaking about Bhaker, the Indian shooter overcame her pistol malfunction in Tokyo to win two bronze medals in Paris.

She also became the first Indian female to win a shooting medal at the Olympics and also the first Indian athlete to win two medals at a single Olympics post-independence. The 22-year-old Bhaker won bronze in 10m air pistol individual and 10m air pistol mixed team events. She could have gotten a third had she not finished fourth in 25m air pistol event.

Watch Manu Bhaker receive Khel Ratna

Thirty-two athletes are being honoured with the Arjuna Award out of which an unprecedented 17 are para-athletes. Among the Arjuna award winners are Paris Olympics bronze medal-winning wrestler Aman Sehrawat, shooters Swapnil Kusale and Sarabjot Singh and the hockey players Jarmanpreet Singh, Sukhjeet Singh, Sanjay and Abhishek.

The para-athletes outnumbered the able-bodied ones in the list of Arjuna winners this time due to the magnificent Paris Paralympics performance in which they returned with 29 medals, including seven gold and nine silver.