India women’s wrist-spinner Poonam Yadav and men’s all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja were presented with the Arjuna Award, an honor bestowed by the Indian government to recognize outstanding individual achievement in sports.
While Poonam received the award from India president Ramnath Kovind at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Thursday, Jadeja missed the ceremony due to ‘Team India duties’. He is currently on the West Indies tour with Virat Kohli and Co.
Poonam and Jadeja were among four cricketers – Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah being the others – recommended for the Arjuna Award by the BCCI in April. They were the only cricketers among the pool of 19 athletes to receive the award this year.
#ArjunaAward for Poonam Yadav 🏏
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— Doordarshan Sports (@ddsportschannel) August 29, 2019
Poonam is the third India women’s cricketer – and 11th overall since 1976 – to win the award, following T20I skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and opener Smriti Mandhana.
Meanwhile, Jadeja is the latest Arjuna Awardee among an elite list of former and current men’s cricketers that include Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin to name a few.
