Star Indian cricketer Mohammed Shami, along with archers Ojas Pravin Deotale, Sheetal Devi, and Aditi Gopichand Swami, and wrestler Antim Panghal, received the prestigious Arjuna Award on Tuesday at Rashtrapati Bhawan from the President of India, Droupadi Murmu.
The Arjuna Award, India's second-highest athletic honor, is conferred in recognition of outstanding sports achievements over the previous four years, coupled with qualities of leadership, sportsmanship, and discipline.
Expressing his gratitude on X, the 33-year-old Shami shared, "Today I am feeling very proud that I have been honored with the prestigious Arjuna Award by the President. I want to thank all those people who have helped me a lot to reach here and have always supported me in my ups and downs... thanks to My Coach, BCCI, teammates, my family, staff, and big thanks to my fans. Thanks to recognize my hard work... I will always try to give my best to make my country proud... Again thanks to everyone... Congratulations to other Arjuna Award winners."
These athletes were acknowledged for their exceptional performances in 2023, including Shami, who emerged as the leading wicket-taker in the ICC Cricket World Cup in India last year, securing 24 scalps and breaking several records.
Para-archer Sheetal Devi Aditi Swami, steeplechaser Parul Chaudhary, shooter Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, and U20 World Champion wrestler Antim Panghal also received the award. Sheetal's remarkable achievements included three medals in the Para Asian Games, comprising a women's team silver, a mixed team gold, and gold in the women's singles compound open event.
In archery, Ojas Pravin, ranked World No. 9, clinched two gold medals, while Jyothi Surekha won three medals overall. Ojas triumphed over Abhishek Verma in the final of the men's compound archery, securing the gold medal with a score of 149-147. He claimed his second gold in the mixed team compound archery event alongside Jyothi Surekha, defeating South Korea's Chaewon So and Jaehoon Joo.
The list of Arjuna Awardees includes prominent names across various sports:
- Mohammed Shami (Cricket)
- Ajay Reddy (Blind Cricket)
- Ojas Pravin Deotale (Archery)
- Aditi Gopichand Swami (Archery)
- Sheetal Devi (Para Archery)
- Parul Chaudhary and Murali Sreeshankar (Athletics)
- Mohd Hussamuddin (Boxing)
- R Vaishali (Chess)
- Divyakriti Singh and Anush Agarwalla (Equestrian)
- Diksha Dagar (Golf)
- Krishan Bahadur Pathak (Hockey)
- Sushila Chanu (Hockey)
- Pinky (Lawn Ball)
- Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar (Shooting)
- Antim Panghal (Wrestling)
- Ayhika Mukherjee (Table Tennis)
