MS Dhoni gets Padma Bhushan award; Somdev Devvarman, Kidambi Srikanth honoured
MS Dhoni and Pankaj Advani were honoured with the Padma Bhushan award while the Padma Shri award went to Kidambi Srikanth, Mirabai Chanu and Somdev Devvarman.
Former Indian cricket team skipper MS Dhoni and cueist Pankaj Advani were conferred with the country’s third-highest civilian award, Padma Bhushan, in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Badminton ace Kidambi Srikanth and former Asian Games gold medallist tennis player Somdev Devvarman were also honoured in the same ceremony as the duo received Padma Shri awards.
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It was a season to remember for second ranked shuttler as he won as many as six titles including four Super Series titles - French Open, Denmark Open, Australian Open, Indonesia Open, India Open and China Open.
The other sportspersons who received the Padma Shri award on Tuesday were weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu and paralympian Murlikant Petkar.
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Petkar was the first Indian paralympian to win an individual Olympic gold medal when he achieved the feat in the 1972 Summer Paralympics, in Heidelberg, Germany. He set a world record in the 50m freestyle swimming event, at 37.33 seconds and was a finalist in javelin, precision javelin throw and slalom in the same tournament.
Mirabai Chanu, on the other hand, stunned the world last year when she lifted a world record of 194 kg in total (85 kg snatch and 109 kg clean & jerk) to win the gold in the 2017 World Weightlifting Championships held at Anaheim, CA, United States.