Cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin presented with Arjuna Award

Union Government has conferred Arjuna Award on Indian cricket team off-spinner bowler Ravichandran Ashwin. With this Ashwin became 48th cricketer to receive the prestigious award.
He was presented with award by Union Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal at a special function organised in New Delhi.
The award was bestowed upon R Ashwin in 2014, but he was not present during the Award Ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhawan in August 2014. During that time he was a part of the India One Day International (ODI) team, which was touring England.

About Ravichandran Ashwin

• R Ashwin hails from southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
• Till date in his international cricket career he has taken 139 wickets in 99 ODIs, 124 wickets in 25 Tests and 26 wickets in 25 T20 internationals.
• He is the fastest Indian bowler to reach the 100 and 50 wicket mark in International Test cricket and 5th fastest bowler in Test history to bag 100 wickets.
• Presently, he plays for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Indian Premier League (IPL) and Tamil Nadu in domestic cricket.
• He was BCCI’s international cricketer of year for the 2012-13 season.

About Arjuna Award

• Established: It was instituted in 1961.
• Given by Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports to sportsperson in recognition of their outstanding achievement in National sports.
• Award carries: Bronze statuette of Arjuna, a scroll and a monetary award of 5 lakh rupees.