Neeta Ambani is not conferred with the Khel Ratna award - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 3, 2021
A post accompanying an image of Neeta Ambani receiving an award from President Ram Nath Kovind is being circulated on social media with a claim that Neeta Ambani has received the Khel Ratna award. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Image showing Neeta Ambani receiving Khel Ratna award from the President.
Fact: The image actually shows Neeta Ambani receiving the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar on behalf of Reliance Foundation from President Ram Nath Kovind back in 2017. Neeta Ambani has not been conferred with the Khel Ratna award. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Reverse image search of the photo in the post led us to News18 news article dated 29 August 2017 which published the same image. As per the article, ‘The Reliance Foundation was awarded the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Award for its contribution in promotion of sports during the national sports awards ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi. The foundation’s chairperson Nita Ambani accepted the award from President Ramnath Kovind.’
Further search led us to a tweet dated 29 August 2017 by ANI and Outlook India’s photo gallery which shared the same image. Even according to these two sources, the image shows President Ram Nath Kovind presenting the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar 2017 to Nita Ambani who received it on behalf of the Reliance Foundation.
Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind conferred Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar on Nita Ambani for Reliance Foundation Youth Sports pic.twitter.com/iauZnF5910
Taking a cue from the news articles YouTube search with relevant keywords yielded us the video footage of the award ceremony uploaded on ‘DD News’ YouTube channel back in 2017. From all these, we can conclude that Neeta Ambani has received Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar on behalf of Reliance Foundation and not the Khel Ratna award.
Further, the official list of 2017 sports awardees can be accessed through PIB archives. From this list, it is evident that Reliance Foundation was conferred with Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar for 2017.
In view of recognizing the contribution made to sports development by entities other than sportspersons and coaches, Government of India from 2009 has instituted a new award named the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar, which has four categories, namely, community sports development, promotion of sports academies of excellence, support to elite sportspersons and employment to sportspersons.
To sum it up, Neeta Ambani did not receive the Khel Ratna award.