Manu Bhaker to receive Khel Ratna along with D Gukesh and two others

The drama surrounding Manu Bhaker’s nomination for the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award came to an end on Thursday after the double Olympic gold medallist was among four athletes finalised for the prestigious award along with chess sensation D Gukesh, who had recently been crowned world champion. Besides Bhaker and Gukesh, India men’s hockey captain Harmanpreet Singh and Paralympic gold-winning high jumper Praveen Kumar are the others who have been nominated for the highest sporting honour in the country.

Besides the four Khel Ratna nominees, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports also unveiled 32 nominees for the Arjuna Awards, including 17 para-athletes.

There had been a major furore over Bhaker’s perceived exclusion from the nominees’ list for the Khel Ratna Award after the pistol shooter made history in the Paris Olympics by winning two bronze medals in three events – becoming the first Indian post-Independence to win more than one medal in the same edition of the Olympics.

While Bhaker questioned whether she was worthy of the award or not in a post on X that she quickly deleted afterwards, her father expressed regret at introducing her to the sport of shooting. Her coach Jaspal Rana too was furious with her alleged snub.