Vijayan and Saraswati are among the awardees

New Delhi: Three from Bengal, Mohammed Ali Qamar (boxing), Mantu Ghosh (table tennis) and Saraswati Saha (athletics) have been chosen for the Arjuna awards this year.

I.M. Vijayan (football), Virender Sehwag (cricket) and Gagan Ajit Singh (hockey) are also among the 21 who have been selected for the award.

Meanwhile, shooter Anjali Bhagwat will share the Rajiv Khel Ratna award with athlete K M. Beenamol. Five each have been selected for the Dhyan Chand lifetime achievement and Dronacharya awards. The awards will be given away by the President of India at a function at the Rashtrapati Bhawan on August 29.

THE AWARDEES

RAJIV GANDHI KHEL RATNA: Anjali Bhagwat (shooting), K. M Beenamol (athletics)

ARJUNA: Anju B. George (athletics), Alok Kumar (billiards and snooker), Mohammed Ali Qamar (boxing), K. Sasikiran (chess), I. M. Vijayan (football), Shiv Kapur (golf), Gagan Ajit Singh (hockey-men), Ram Mehar Singh (kabaddi), Anwar Sultan (shooting), Suma Shirur (shooting), Mantu Ghosh (table tennis), Ravikant Reddy (volleyball), T. Muthu (weightlifting), Palwinder Singh Cheema (wrestling), Nitin Mongia (yachting), Mamta Kharab (hockey-woman), Virender Sehwag (cricket), Saraswati Saha (athletics), Inderpal Singh (rowing), Sujit Mann (wrestling), Ramesh Tikaram (badminton and athletics — handicap category).

DHYANCHAND: Ram Kumar (basketball), Dharma Singh Mann (hockey), Charles Comelius (hockey), Om Prakash (volleyball), Smita Yadav (rowing).

DRONACHARYA: Renu Kohli (athletics), Jaswant Singh (athletics), M. K. Kaushik (hockey), E. Prasad Rao (kabaddi), H. D. Motivala (yachting). (PTI)