Paralympic silver-medallist Deepa Malik on Thursday became first Indian woman para-athlete and oldest to be conferred Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award but training commitments kept co-awardee Bajrang Punia away from National Sports Awards ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan in Delhi. Deepa Malik, who won a silver medal in shot put F53 category in 2016 Rio Paralympics, was joint winner of top hour with Asian and Commonwealth Games champion Punia, who is in Russia to prepare for upcoming World Championships in Kazakhstan.

Deepa Malik became only second para-athlete after double Paralympic gold-medallist javelin thrower Devendra Jhajharia, who received recognition in 2017, to have won prestigious award. At 49, she also became oldest athlete ever to have claimed hour. World Championships bronze-medallist shuttler B Sai Praneeth, woman cricketer Poonam Yav, Asian Games gold-winner heptathlete Swapna Barman, footballer Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, two-time world silver-medallist boxer Sonia Lar, Asian Games silver-medallist equestrian Foua Mirza, motorsports ace Gaurav Gill and Kabdi captain Ajay Thakur were among 19 sportspersons who received Arjuna Award from President Kovind in Delhi.

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Deepa Malik became fourth-time lucky as she was igred for award for past three years, leing her to question and criticise decision. Prominent absentees from event apart from Punia, were cricketer Ravindra Jeja, Asian Games gold-medallist shot-putter Tejinder Pal Singh Toor, and silver-winner quartermiler Mohammed Anas, all of who were picked for Arjuna award this year. Jeja is currently on national duty with Indian Test team in Caribbean, while Toor and Anas are competing in national inter-state athletics meet in Luckw right w.  National Sports Awards are given on August 29 every year to commemorate birth anniversary of hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand.

"I am very happy. This whole journey has been more about changing attitude of people towards disability and hidden potential in people with disability. I think award is going to be a huge inspiration to women athletes in disability. It took 70 years for independent India to win medal in Paralympic," Deepa Malik said. 

While Khel Ratna award carries a prize purse of Rs 7.5 lakh, Arjuna awardees are given Rs 5 lakh each along with citations. Besides Khel Ratna and Arjuna awards, President Kovind also gave away Dronacharya and Dhyan Chand awards to coaches, Tenzing rgay National venture awards, Maulana Abul Kalam Az Trophy and Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar.

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Here is list of National Sports Awardees:

Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award: Deepa Malik (para-athletics), Bajrang Punia (wrestling)

Arjuna Awards: Ravindra Jeja (cricket), Mohammed Anas Yahiya (athletics), Gurpreet Singh Sandhu (football), Sonia Lar (boxing), Chinglensana Singh Kangujam (hockey), S Bhaskaran (bodybuilding), Ajay Thakur (kabdi), Anjum Moudgil (shooting), B Sai Praneeth (bminton), Tajinder Pal Singh Toor (athletics), Pramod Bhagat (para sports-bminton), Harmeet Rajul Desai (table tennis), Pooja Dhanda (wrestling), Foua Mirza (equestrian), Simran Singh Shergill (polo), Poonam Yav (cricket), Swapna Burman (athletics), Sundar Singh Gurjar (para sports-athletics) and Gaurav Singh Gill (motorsports).

Dronacharya Award (regular category): Mohinder Singh Dhillon (athletics), Sandeep Gupta (table tennis) and Vimal Kumar (bminton).

Dronacharya Award (lifetime category): Sanjay Bhardwaj (cricket), Rambir Singh Khokar (kabdi) and Mezban Patel (hockey).

Dhyan Chand Award: Maj Kumar (wrestling), C Lalremsanga (archery), Arup Basak (table tennis), Nitten Kirrtane (tennis) and Manuel Fredricks (hockey).

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