President Ram Nath Kovind conferred National Sports Awards for 2018 at a function in Rashtrapati Bhawan this evening.

Captain of Indian cricket team Virat Kohli and world champion weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu received the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, the highest sporting award of the country. Apart from a medal and a citation, both the awardees received a cash prize of 7.5 lakh rupees.

Star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, athlete Hima Das, Jinson Jhonson, Shuttler Nelakurthi Sikki Reddy, Boxer Satish Kumar, Golfer Subhankar Sharma, Shooters Rahi Sarnobat, Ankur Mittal, Shreyasi Singh, Table Tennis Players Manika Batra, G Sathiyan, Wrestler Sumit, Wushu player Pooja Kadian, Para Athlete Ankur Dhama, Para-Badminton player Manoj Sarkar and Hockey players Manpreet Singh, Savita and Polo player Col. Ravi Rathore  got the Arjuna Awards.

The President also presented the Dronacharya awards to eight coaches. They are Subedar  Chenanda Achaiah  Kuttappa for Boxing, Vijay Sharma for Weightlifting, A. Srinivasa Rao for Table Tennis, Sukhdev  Singh  Pannu for Athletics,  Clarence Lobo for Hockey, Tarak Sinha for Cricket,  Jiwan Kumar Sharma for Judo and V.R. Beedu for Athletics.

Dhyan Chand Award was given to four persons. They are Satyadev Prasad for Archery, Bharat Kumar Chetri for Hockey, Ms. Bobby Aloysius for Athletics and Chougale Dadu Dattatray for Wrestling.

Arjuna, Dronacharya and Dhyan Chand Awardees received statuettes, certificates and cash prize of five lakh rupees each.