Indian tennis player Rohan Bopanna and squash player Joshna Chinappa are two of the seven athletes chosen to receive the Padma Shri award for 2024 by the Indian government on Thursday. Padma Shri is India’s fourth-highest civilian award after Bharat Ratna, Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan. It is given to individuals for their distinguished service in any field.
There will be a total of 132 recipients of the Padma Awards 2024. The list comprises five Padma Vibhushan, 17 Padma Bhushan and 110 Padma Shri awards, the Ministry of Home Affairs stated in a press release on the eve of India’s 75th Republic Day on Friday.
These awards will be conferred by the President of India at a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan in March-April later this year.
Rohan Bopanna’s Remarkable Rise in the 2023 Tennis Season
Rohan Bopanna was ranked 19th at the start of the 2023 tennis season. Alongside his partner Matthew Ebden, a good run of results saw Bopanna break into the top 10. Additionally, Bopanna also won the gold medal at the Asian Games with his mixed doubles partner Rutuja Bhosale. Bopanna will climb to world No. 1 rank in the doubles next week.
Joshna Chinappa, meanwhile, is a two-time Asian individual squash champion and was part of the bronze medal-winning women’s team at the Asian Games last year. Along with Deepika Pallikal, Chinappa won the gold medal at the 2022 World Doubles Championships.
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Five other sportspersons will be conferred the Padma Shri. They are Uday Deshpande, Purnima Mahato, Gaurav Khanna, Satendra Singh Lohia and Harbinder Singh.
Harbinder Singh was part of India’s gold medal-winning hockey team at the Tokyo 1964 Olympics while Uday Deshpande is a Mumbai-based mallakhamb teacher and practitioner. Purnima Mahato, now a top coach, is a former archer, who won a silver medal at the 1998 Commonwealth Games. Gaurav Khanna is a para badminton coach while Satendra Singh Lohia is a para swimmer.
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Padma Shri 2024 award winners in sports
- Rohan Bopanna (tennis)
- Joshna Chinappa (squash)
- Uday Vishwanath Deshpande (mallakhamb)
- Gaurav Khanna (badminton)
- Satendra Singh Lohia (swimming)
- Purnima Mahato (archery)
- Harbinder Singh (hockey)
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