President Ram Nath Kovind will today present the Padma Awards 2018 to the remaining awardees at another special function to be held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni and billiards champion Pankaj Advani are among those who will be honoured by President today. This year, 84 Padma Awards were announced. The list comprises three Padma Vibhushan, nine Padma Bhushan and 72 Padma Shri awards. The first lot of 43 awardees of the Padma awards 2018 were honoured at a special function held on March 20.
Former India cricket captain MS Dhoni and multiple world champion cueist Pankaj Advani were today conferred with the country’s third-highest civilian award, Padma Bhushan. Besides the duo, 2017 World Weightlifting Champion in the 48kg category, Saikhom Mirabai Chanu and former Asian Games gold medalist tennis player Somdev Devvarman were conferred with the Padma Shri award.
MS Dhoni has been the recipient of many awards, including the ICC ODI Player of the Year award in 2008 and 2009 (the first player to win the award twice), the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award in 2007 and the Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian honour in 2009. Considered as the country’s most successful cricket captain, Dhoni led India to two World Cup triumphs and in the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 held in South Africa in September 2007 and the 2011 ICC ODI World Cup. India also won ICC Champions Trophy under him. It was under his captaincy that India climbed to No. 1 in the ICC Test Rankings in December 2009.
#OnThisDay in 2011, Dhoni7⃣ finished it off in style with a magnificent strike into the crowd and India lifted the world cup after 28 years
— Doordarshan News (@DDNewsLive) April 2, 2018
Who could ever forget this moment @BCCI @msdhoni pic.twitter.com/82wjsq0arM
