2020 National Sports Awards to be held virtually

New Delhi : The 2020 National Sports Awards will be held via video conferencing due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Sports Ministry said on Thursday.

The ceremony is scheduled to be held on Saturday (August 29), and the Ministry said that 65 out of the 74 awardees will be present. Of the nine award winners who will not attend the virtual ceremony, three have tested positive for Covid-19. The awards are usually presented by the President at the RashtrapatiBhavan.

This time, however, President Ram NathKovind will be connected via a National Informatics Centre (NIC) link from RashtrapatiBhavan while the recipients will be present at Sports Authority of India (SAI) and NIC centres in various locations across the country, the Sports Ministry said in a statement.

Sports Minister KirenRijiju would be present at the VigyanBhawan in the national capital for the award ceremony. The programme will be telecast live on Doordarshan.