Subhajit Saha

New Delhi: Bengal paddler Subhajit Saha and squash star Saurav Ghosal will receive Arjuna Awards this year, according to sources. The awards will only be announced officially on Friday.

Subhajit told The Telegraph: “I went through a lot of tension during the last few days since I knew my name had been recommended… I can breathe easy now. This award will spur me to bigger achievements.”

For the fourth consecutive year, no footballer, it seems, will receive the award though the AIFF recommended Jo Paul Ancheri and Shanmugam Venkatesh. IM Vijayan is the last footballer to win the Arjuna Award in 2003.

Trap shooter Manavjit Singh has been conferred with Khel Ranta, the highest sporting award of the land. He has been chosen ahead of Mahesh Bhupathi, Rahul Dravid, Samresh Jung, Jeev Milkha Singh and M.C. Marycom.

LIST OF AWARDEES

Khel Ratna: Manavjit Singh Sandhu (shooting).

Arjuna Award: Vijender (boxing), Anjum Chopra (women’s cricket), Jyoti Sunita Kullu (women’s hockey), Chetan Anand (badminton), Jayanta Talukdar (archery), K. M. Binu (athletics), Navneet Gautam (kabaddi), Vijay Kumar (shooting), Saurav Ghosal (squash), Subhajit Saha (table tennis), Geeta Rani (women’s weightlifting), Geetika Jhakar (women’s wrestling) and Rohit Bhaker (sport for physically challenged).

Dronacharya: Damodara Chandralal (women’s boxing coach), Koneru Ashok (chess), father and coach of Grandmaster Koneru Humpy, and R. D. Singh (athletics), coach of Devendra Singh who wontitle at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens.