President Kovind virtually presents Arjuna Award to Lovlina Borgohain

Assam Boxer Lovlina Bogohain, was on Saturday presented the prestigious Arjuna Award by President Ram Nath Kovind for her outstanding performance, via a virtual ceremony. In a first-of-its-kind move, the

Assam Boxer Lovlina Bogohain, was on Saturday presented the prestigious Arjuna Award by President Ram Nath Kovind for her outstanding performance, via a virtual ceremony.

In a first-of-its-kind move, the winners of the National Sports Awards were connected virtually to President Kovind at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi from 9 different Sports Authority of India (SAI) designated locations, in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 23-year-old pugilist from Assam to qualify for the Olympics, was connected from Chandigarh. After Shiva Thapa, she is the second boxer from the state to represent the country at the Olympics.

Earlier, Lovlina won a gold medal at the 1st India Open International Boxing Tournament held in New Delhi and a silver medal at the 2nd India Open International Boxing Tournament held in Guwahati.

She also won a bronze medal at the 2019 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships held in Ulan-Ude, Russia. Lovlina was born on 2nd October 1997, and hails from Golaghat district of Assam.

The other 5 sports persons from Assam who have received the Arjuna Award include Bhogeswar Baruah, Monalisa Baruah Mehta, Jayanta Talukdar, Shiva Thapa and Hima Das.

Apart from Lovlina, the other players who also won the prestigious Arjuna Award include Dutee Chand, Sawant Ajay Anant, Sandesh Jhingan, Aditi Ashok, Akashdeep Singh, Deepak, Kale Sarika Sudhakar, Divya Kakran, Rahul Aware, Suyash Narayan Jadhav, Sandeep Para and Manish Narwal.

The Union sports ministry announced the names of 27 sportspersons of the country for the Arjuna Award.

Meanwhile, Union sports minister Kiren Rijiju on Saturday announced an enhancement in the prize money in four of the seven categories of the National Sports Awards.

Rijiju made this announcement on the occasion of the 115th birth anniversary of hockey legend Dhyan Chand, which is celebrated as the National Sports Day.

The prize money for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award has been increased to Rs 25 lakh from the previous amount of Rs 7.5 lakh while Arjuna Award has been enhanced to Rs 15 lakh from Rs 5 lakh.

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