Sukhwinder Singh, Sandesh Jhingan

Indian football: Sandesh Jhingan wins Arjuna Award, Sukhwinder Singh bags Dhyan Chand Award

India international defender Sandesh Jhingan has been conferred with the prestigious Arjuna Award. The award will be handed over to the player on August 29.

Arjuna Awards are given to honour excellence in various sports disciplines by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) in India.

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) had recommended the names of India internationals Sandesh Jhingan, Jeje Lalpekhlua and N. Bala Devi to the Government of India.

Before Jhingan, 26 other footballers had won the prestigious award in the past. Last year Jhingan's national teammate and Bengaluru FC goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu had won the award.

The 27-year-old defender recently ended his six-year-long association with Indian Super League (ISL) side Kerala Blasters and is yet to decide his next destination. The Punjabi defender had made his international debut in 2015 against Nepal in an international friendly match. He has earned 38 caps for the Blue Tigers so far.

Jhingan had missed the entirety of ISL 2019-20 season due to a knee injury which he had suffered back in November 2019.

Former India international and National Football League (NFL) winning coach Sukhwinder Singh also has been honoured by the MYAS. The experienced coach has won the Dhyan Chand Award.

Singh started his coaching journey at the top tier of Indian football in 1995 with JCT FC and guided the team to the NFL title in the very first year of the league.

He had also served as coach of both the Indian senior national team and the U23 team and had won the SAFF Championship with the senior team in 1998 and with the youth side in 2009.

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