17 January,2025 04:30 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Manu Bhaker (Pic: X/@ANI)
Two-time Olympic bronze medallist Manu Bhaker was one among the athletes who received the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award. Speaking about the award, Manu Bhaker said, "It is an honour to receive the Khel Ratna. This will inspire me to work harder in the future and win more medals for the country." Taking to X:
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Manu Bhaker finished third to secure a bronze medal in the final of the Women's Air Pistol event at the Paris Olympics, last year.
Manu Bhaker became the first Indian woman and the fifth overall to achieve an Olympic medal in shooting, during the Paris Olympic, last year.
The 22-year-old completed her performance with 22 shots, accumulating a score of 221.7. She narrowly missed surpassing second-place Yeji Kim by just 0.1 points in the penultimate series.
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Later, alongside Sarabjot Singh, Manu Bhaker earned India another bronze medal in the 10m air pistol mixed team event by defeating South Korea.
The Indian pair defeated the Koreans 16-10 to earn the country its second medal at the quadrennial showpiece, and in the process made Bhaker the first Indian post-independence to bag two medals in a single edition of the Games.
Thirty-two athletes are being honoured with the Arjuna Award out of which an unprecedented 17 are para-athletes.
The athletes selected for the Arjuna award include the Paris Olympics bronze medal-winning group of wrestler Aman Sehrawat, shooters Swapnil Kusale and Sarabjot Singh and the men's hockey team 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.
The annual honours are decided by a points system in which the maximum emphasis is on performances delivered at the Olympics and the World Championships.
