National sports awards for Diksha Dagar, coach ‘Jesse’ Grewal

By Rahul Banerji

Woman golfer Diksha Dagar and coach Jaskirat Singh ‘Jesse’ Grewal were named in the list of national sports awards recipients for 2023, the sports ministry said on Wednesday.

Chandigarh-based Grewal will receive the lifetime category of the Dronacharya Award, a first for golf, while Diksha will become the 22nd Arjuna Award recipient for the sport since they were instituted in 1961.

Diksha is the fifth woman female Arjuna Award winner after Anjani N. Desai (1972), Sita Rawlley (1977-78), Nonita Lal (1987) and Aditi Ashok (2020). Aditi was the last recipient of the award for golf in the 2020 list of honours.

The wiry left-hander is coming off an outstanding year that included her second Ladies European Tour title and a third-place finish on the LET’s season-ending standings.

President Droupadi Murmu will honour the awardees at Rashtrapati Bhawan on Tuesday, January 9, 2024.

In the list announced on Wednesday, the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award 2023 will be given to the badminton doubles pair of Chirag Chandrashekhar Shetty and Rankireddy Satwik Sai Raj for their phenomenal feats over the last two years.

Shami honoured

In all, 26 sportspersons will receive the Arjuna Award for outstanding performances in 2023, the ministry said while announcing the National Sports Awards including fast bowler Mohammad Shami, who had an outstanding World Cup recently.

The list of Arjuna and Dronacharya Award winners was based on the recommendations of a committee headed by retired Supreme Court judge A/M/ Khanwilkar that included eminent sportspersons, journalists and administrators.

The 64-year-old Grewal’s trainees include European Tour regular Shubhankar Sharma, himself an Arjuna awardee in 2018 besides a host of current and upcoming stars.

“It’s better to be late than never for a golf coach to be considered for the Dronacharya award,” Grewal told The Hindustan Times.

“It is very good for the sport as well as the hard-working coaches. Indian golfers have been doing well internationally and I’m hoping our golfers bag medals and prove their mettle in the Paris Olympics-2024.”

Added India star Anirban Lahiri in an X post by Dubai-based golf writer Joy Chakravarty on coach Grewal’s Dronacharya Award, “Wonderful to have that recognition for our sport.”

On Diksha Dagar, Lahiri added, “She has had to overcome many things. She played amazing golf in 2023, and it’s fantastic she has been recognised for all her efforts.”

List of awardees

Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award

Chirag Shetty and Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy (badminton).

Arjuna Awards

Ojas Pravin Deotale (archery), Aditi Gopichand Swami (archery), Murali Sreeshankar (athletics), Parul Chaudhary (athletics), Mohameed Hussamuddin (boxing), R Vaishali (chess), Mohammed Shami (cricket), Anush Agarwalla (equestrian).

Divyakriti Singh (equestrian dressage), Diksha Dagar (golf), Krishan Bahadur Pathak (hockey), Sushila Chanu (hockey), Pawan Kumar (kabaddi), Ritu Negi (kabaddi), Nasreen (kho-kho), Pinki (lawn bowls), Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar (shooting).

Esha Singh (shooting), Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (squash), Ayhika Mukherjee (table tennis), Sunil Kumar (wrestling), Antim (wrestling), Naorem Roshibina Devi (wushu), Sheetal Devi (para archery), Illuri Ajay Kumar Reddy (blind cricket), Prachi Yadav (para canoeing).

Dronacharya Award (regular category)

Lalit Kumar (wrestling), R.B. Ramesh (chess), Mahaveer Prasad Saini (para athletics), Shivendra Singh (hockey), Ganesh Prabhakar Devrukhkar (mallakhamb).

Dronacharya Award (life-time category)

Jaskirat Singh Grewal (golf), Bhaskaran E. (kabaddi), Jayanta Kumar Pushilal (table tennis).

Dhyan Chand Award for lifetime achievement

Manjusha Kanwar (badminton), Vineet Kumar Sharma (hockey), Kavitha Selvaraj (kabaddi).

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy

Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar (overall winner university); Lovely Professional University, Punjab (1st runner -up), Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra (2nd runner-up).

The sports ministry statement added, “The Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award is given for the spectacular and most outstanding performance in the field of sports by a sportsperson over the period of the previous four years.

“Arjuna Award is given for good performance over the previous four years and for showing qualities of leadership, sportsmanship and a sense of discipline.

“Dronacharya Award for outstanding coaches is given to coaches for doing outstanding and meritorious work on a consistent basis and for enabling sportspersons to excel in international events”

Also read: Aditi caps her LET season with Marbella title, Diksha is seventh