On the day when 26 athletes were honoured with the Arjuna awards and the badminton doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty received the prestigious Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, Deaflympics gold medallist Virender Singh, better known as Goonga Pahalwan, expressed his disappointment on social media for not receiving the Khel Ratna Award.
He wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister of Sports Anurag Thakur, stating that he was deprived of the eight crore promised by the Manohar Lal Khattar government in Haryana. Additionally, he expressed his dismay at not being considered for the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award despite winning five Deaflympics medals. "You have bowled your way into hearts of cricket fans": Sachin lauds Shami following Arjuna Award honour.
On Tuesday, President Draupadi Murmu presented the Arjuna Award to 26 athletes. Out of which, most athletes on the list competed in the Asian Games 2023, where India created history by winning more than 100 medals in a single competition. Also, Mohammed Shami is the only cricket player to receive the award in 2023.