The 14th President of India Ram Nath Kovind gave away his first Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award to former Indian hockey team skipper Sardar Singh and Para-Olympic gold medalist Devendra Jhajharia at a function conducted at Rashtrapati Bhawan on the occasion of National Sports Day.

The President also gave away the Dronacharya awards to Late R. Gandhi (athletics), Heera Nand Kataria (kabaddi), G.S.S.V. Prasad (badminton, lifetime), Brij Bhushan Mohanty (boxing, lifetime), P.A. Raphel (hockey, lifetime), Sanjoy Chakraverthy (shooting, lifetime) and Roshan Lal (wrestling, lifetime).

Apart from Khel Ratna and Dronacharya award, President Kovind gave away Arjuna awards to Rajiv Arokia, Saketh Myneni (tennis), Jyoti Surekha Vennam (archery), Khushbir Kaur (athletics), Prashanti Singh (basketball), S.V. Sunil (hockey), S.S.P. Chaurasia (golf), Satyavrat Kadian (wrestling), Anthony Amalraj (table tennis), P.N. Prakash (shooting), Jasvir Singh (kabaddi), Laishram Devendro Singh (boxing), Oinam Bembem Devi (football), Harmanpreet Kaur and Cheteshwar Pujara (both cricket) along with Paralympians Mariyappan Thangavelu and Varun Singh Bhati.

The award recipients are awarded a medal and a citation, after from that Khel Ratna Awardees received a cash prize of Rs 7.5 lakh while Arjuna, Dronacharya and Dyan Chand Awardees received statuettes, certificates and a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh each.