The Durbar Hall reverberated with the claps of the dignitaries when para archer Sheetal Devi, winner of three gold medals at the Para Asian Games in Hangzhou, walked up to collect her Arjuna on January 09.
The 16-year-old is the only international para-archery champion without upper limbs due to a rare medical condition called Phocomelia.
President Droupadi Murmu held Sheetal's award and the scroll as the teenager soaked in the atmosphere and the splendour of the hall.
Devi's three medals at Asiad include a gold in Individual Compound and Mixed Compound and a silver in Doubles Compound.
Shuttlers Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy were chosen for the coveted Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award for a breakout 2023, during which they won their maiden Asian Games gold, while also clinching the Asian Championships title and the Indonesia Open Super 1000 title.
The duo is currently playing in Malaysia Open Super 1000 and therefore skipped the function.
Also receiving a huge round of applause was the newly-crowned chess Grandmaster R. Vaishali, the elder sister of precocious chess talent R. Praggnanandhaa.
Vaishali was honoured for becoming the third woman from the country after Koneru Humpy and Dronavalli Harika to turn GM.