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Virat Kohli and Sakshi Malik conferred Padma Shri awards

Shekhar Naik, Mariyappan Thangavelu and Dipa Karmakar will also receive Padma Shri.

Mumbai: India captain Virat Kohli will be honoured with the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian award.

Apart from Kohli, seven other sportspersons were named for the award. Rio Olympics bronze medallist wrestler Sakshi Malik, Paralympians Mariyappan Thangavelu and Deepa Malik, gymnast Dipa Karmakar, Indian hockey captain P R Sreejesh, discus thrower Vikas Gowda and blind cricket team captain Shekar Naik will also receive Padma Shri.

Kohli recently took over as the captain of the Indian cricket team in all the three formats of the game after Mahendra Singh Dhoni stepped down as skipper of the limited-overs side. The prolific batsman is among the most feared batsmen in world cricket right now.

Naik has led the Indian blind side to victory in the 2012 T20 World Cup and the 2014 ODI World Cup.

Sakshi Malik and Deepa Malik created history last year, as the former became the first Indian woman to win a medal in wrestling in the Olympics, while the latter became the first female Paralympics medallist for India, last year.

Thangavelu bagged a gold in the men's high jump T-42 at Rio Paralympics.

Dipa Karmakar finished fourth in women's vault gymnastic event in Rio Olympics while Sreejesh was the captain of the Indian hockey side that reached the quarterfinals.

Gowda, the reigning Commonwealth and Asian champion, failed to advance beyond the qualifying round in men's discus throw in Rio.

The Padma awards were started in 1954, to felicitate Indians, who have excelled in different fields – arts, literature, sports, social work, medicine, science, civil service, and others.

The three categories of Padma awards that are doled out are Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Shri, in descending order.

( Source : Deccan Chronicle with agency inputs )
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