Olympic medal winners Vijay Kumar (Siver in shooting) and Yogeshwar Dutt (bronze in wrestling) received the highest sporting honor of the country, the Khel Ratna award, while a list of 25 sportsperson received Arjuna awards at the event held at Rashtrapati Bhavan on 29th of August, 2012.

Both Vijay Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt received huge applause from the sports celebrities, politicians and dignitaries present during the event, while receiving the award. Cricketer Yuvraj Singh received the Arjuna award and was supported by the crowd heavily while receiving the honor.

Both the Olympic medalists received the trophy with a medal, citation and cash price of 7.5 lakhs each. The selection was made by the committee headed by 2004 Olympic silver medalist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore which includes Akhil Kumar (boxing), Khajan Singh (swimming) and Bhaichung Bhutia (football) and others.



According to the rule, only one Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award is given to sportsperson every year, but it has been relaxed this year considering the exceptional achievement like winning Olympic medal. In case of Arjuna awards, only 15 will be given in a year, but this time it has become a total of 25.

Hockey midfielder Sardar Singh, wrestler Geeta Phogat, and Narsingh Yadav, shooters Annu Raj Singh and Omkar Singh, shuttlers P Kashyap and Ashwini Ponappa, archers Deepika Kumari and Bombayla Devi were among Arjuna Award winners this year.

Here is the list of award winners for the year 2012 :

Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award : Vijay Kumar (shooting) and Yogeshwar Dutt (wrestling).

Arjuna Awards : Deepika Kumari (archery), Laishram Bombayla Devi (archery), Sudha Singh (athletics), Kavita Ramdas Raut (athletics), Ashwani Ponnappa (badminton), Parupalli Kashyap (badminton), Aditya S Mehta (billiards and Snooker), Vikas Krishan (boxing), Yuvraj Singh (cricket), Sardar Singh (hockey), Yashpal Solanki (judo), Anup Kumar (kabaddi), Samir Suhag (polo), Annu Raj Singh (shooting), Omkar Singh (shooting), Joydeep Karmakar (shooting), Deepika Pallikal (squash), Sandeep Sejwal (swimming), Ng. Sonia Chanu (weightlifting), Narsingh Yadav (wrestling), Rajinder Kumar (wrestling), Geeta Phogat (wrestling), M. Bimoljit Singh (wushu), Deepa Mallick (athletics, Paralympics), Ramkaran Singh (athletics, Paralympics).

Dronacharya Awards : Virender Poonia (athletics), Sunil Dabas (kabaddi), Yashvir Singh (wrestling), Harendra Singh (hockey), Satyapal Singh (para-sports, athletics), J S Bhatia (athletics, for Life Time achievement), Bhawani Mukherjee (table tennis, for Life Time achievement) and B I Fernandez (boxing).

Dhyan Chand Awards : Jagraj Singh Mann (athletics), Gundeep Kumar (hockey), Vinod Kumar (wrestling) and Sukhbir Singh Tokas (para-sports).

Tags: List of Arjuna award winners 2012 | List of Dronacharya award winners 2012 | List of Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award winners 2012 | Shooter Vijay Kumar receives Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award | Yogeshwar Dutt receives Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award