President of India Ram Nath Kovind honoured Rani Rampal, the captain of the Indian Women's Hockey team, with one of India's highest civilian honours, the Padma Shri award, for leading the team to a fourth-place achievement at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. Even though the women's hockey team did not win a medal, they represented their country well by fighting to the last end and demonstrating to the world that they can compete with the best.
Rani Rampal was recently honoured with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, which has been renamed the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. While the player earned this prize last year, the Sports Ministry held a ceremony in which all of the winners of last year's National Sports Awards were physically presented with trophies.
Rani Rampal, the Indian women's hockey captain, lost a hard-fought match to Argentina in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics semi-finals. Prior to it, they had defeated Australia, one of the hardest opponents in the draw. In the quarter-finals, they beat them 1-0. The team, however, was unable to win the third-place duel against Great Britain, and they were forced to settle for fourth place and a medal. Even if they didn't win the medal, the women's team demonstrated to the rest of the world that they are a squad that will compete at the greatest level for the biggest prize. Team India will now focus on the Hockey World Cup, where they will try to replicate their performance in Tokyo.
Padma Shri is one of India's highest civilian honours, bestowed on exceptional service on the eve of Republic Day every year. Padma Vibhushan (for extraordinary and distinguished service), Padma Bhushan (for distinguished service of higher level), and Padma Shri (for distinguished service of higher order) are the three categories of awards (distinguished service). The award is intended to recognise accomplishments in all professions or disciplines where public service is a factor.
This year, the President will bestow a total of 119 Padma Awards. There are seven Padma Vibhushan, ten Padma Bhushan, and 102 Padma Shri on the list. There are 29 women awardees, 16 posthumous awardees, and one transgender awardee among the recipients.
