New Delhi, India

On Tuesday (Jan 9), Indian pacer Mohammed Shami was bestowed with the Arjuna Award by the President of India, Droupadi Murmu at the National Sports Awards. Shami's name was recommended by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) following his sensational run in the 2023 ODI World Cup, where he finished with the most wickets (24) with a best of 7 for 57 in the semi-final match versus New Zealand.

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Later, after receiving the prestigious award, Shami wrote on X saying, "Today I am feeling very proud that I have been honoured with the prestigious Arjuna Award by the President. I want to thank all those people who have helped me a lot to reach here and have always supported me in my ups and downs... thanks to My Coach, BCCI, teammates, family, and staff and big thanks to my fans. Thanks for recognising my hard work. I will always try to give my best to make my country proud... Again thanks to everyone.. Congratulations to other Arjua award winners."

Other Arjuna Award winners include Murali Sreeshankar (Athletics), Aditi Swami (Archery), Diksha Dagar( (Golf), Pawan Kumar (Kabaddi), Sunil Kumar (Wrestling), Ajay Reddy (Blind Cricket), etc.

Also read: Virat Kohli, World Cup winners nominated for ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year 2023 award

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HERE IS THE VIDEO OF SHAMI RECEIVING THE ARJUNA AWARD (SECOND-HIGHEST SPORTING HONOUR OF INDIA)

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Talking about Shami's performance in the ODI WC, he was not part of the Indian playing XI for the first four games. An injury to Hardik Pandya led to his entry into the XI and Shami made a mark in his very first game, versus New Zealand in Dharamshala, with a 5 for 54. He attained another five-fer in India's face-off versus Sri Lanka in the group stage, with a 5 for 18 before claiming his third five-wicket haul in the mega tournament, during the semifinal encounter versus the Kiwis where he accounted for 7 for 57 in a high-scoring thriller. 

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Apart from Shami, as many as 25 more athletes were bestowed with the Arjuna Award; a list majorly dominated by India's top performers in their historic run in the 2023 Asian Games in China. In the showpiece event, India outperformed themselves with a record tally of 107 medals.