Khel Ratna Award Winners List
The Khel Ratna Award, officially known as the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award is the highest sporting honour of India.It is awarded annually by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India.
In 2023, Chirag Shetty and Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy were honored for their outstanding performance in Badminton.
In 2022, Sharath Kamal received recognition in the field of Table Tennis.
The year 2021 saw a large group of awardees across various sports:
Neeraj Chopra (Athletics), Ravi Kumar Dahiya (Freestyle Wrestling), Lovlina Borgohain (Boxing), P. R. Sreejesh (Hockey), Avani Lekhara (Paralympic Shooting), Sumit Antil (Para-athletics), Pramod Bhagat (Para-badminton), Krishna Nagar (Para-badminton), Manish Narwal (Paralympic Shooting), Mithali Raj (Cricket), Sunil Chhetri (Football), and Manpreet Singh (Hockey).
In 2020, the awardees included Bajrang Punia (Freestyle Wrestling), Rohit Sharma (Cricket), Mariyappan Thangavelu (Paralympic High Jump), Manika Batra (Table Tennis), Vinesh Phogat (Freestyle Wrestling), and Rani Rampal (Hockey).
For 2019, Deepa Malik was recognized for her achievements in Paralympic sports (Shot Put, Javelin, and others), and Bajrang Punia again for Freestyle Wrestling.
In 2018, Saikhom Mirabai Chanu was awarded for Weightlifting, and Virat Kohli for Cricket.
During 2017, honors went to Devendra Jhajharia for Paralympic Javelin, and Sardara Singh for Hockey.
In 2016, the awardees were P. V. Sindhu (Badminton), Dipa Karmakar (Gymnastics), Jitu Rai (Shooting), and Sakshi Malik (Freestyle Wrestling).
In 2015, Sania Mirza was recognized for her achievements in Tennis.
Lastly, in 2013, Ronjan Sodhi received the award for Shooting.