Sindhu, Sardar, Saba and Arunima receive Padma Shri award

Indian men's hockey team captain Sardar Singh and former skipper of the national women's side Saba Anjum were conferred with the prestigious Padma
Shri Award by President Pranab Mukherjee at a glittering ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Both Sardar as well as Saba received the Arjuna Award in 2012 and 2013 respectively. 

The 28-year-old Sardar made his debut for the senior team against Pakistan in 2006 and since then he has played more than 200 international matches and has successfully contributed towards Indian hockey. 

Sardar is also the most sought-after player in the prestigious Hockey India League. 

Saba, on the other hand, was one of the most prominent forwards and represented India ib the 2002 Asian Games, 2004 Asia Cup, Commonwealth Games in 2002 and 2006 and Junior World Cup in 2001.

Amongst the other prominent Padma Shri awardees were shuttler PV Sindhu and amputee Everest climber Arunima Sinha.

Sindhu was winner of the bronze at the Copenhagen World Championships last year while Arunima is the first woman amputee mountaineer to climb Mount Everest in 2013.

With her bronze in Copenhagen, Sindhu became the first and only Indian ever to win two World medals, back-to-back at that.

She was consistent throughout, maintained a top-10 ranking for most of the year, winning the Macau Open GP Gold in November and the silver at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Meanwhile, former Asian Games gold medal-winning wrestler Satpal, who has coached two-time Olympic medal winner Sushil Kumar, was honoured with the prestigious Padma Bhushan.

Image: PV Sindhu

Photo: Getty Images