Decorated wrestler Vinesh Phogat and India’s opening batsman Rohit Sharma are among the four players recommended on Tuesday for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award.
Table tennis player Manika Batra and 2016 Paralympic gold medallist Mariyappan Thangavelu have also been recommended for the prestigious award.
“Rohit Sharma, Vinesh Phogat, Manika Batra and Mariyappan Thangavelu have been recommended, we will discuss on Rani Rampal whether her name will be recommended or not,” said a source within the Sports Ministry.
For Dronacharya Lifetime award, eight names have been recommended — Dharmendra Tiwary (archery), Pursohattam Rai (athletics), Shiv Singh (women’s boxing), Romesh Pathania (men’s hockey), KK Hooda (kabaddi), Vijay Munishwar (para powerlifting), Naresh Kumar (tennis), and OP Dahiya (wrestling).
With regards to the regular Dronacharya award, five names have been put forward — Yogesh Malviya (Mallakhamb), Gaurav Khanna (para-badminton), Jaspal Rana (shooting), Kuldeep Handoo (wushu) and Jude Felix (hockey).
There are fifteen names which have been recommended for Dhyan Chand award — Jincy Philips (athletics), Kuldeep Singh Bhullar (athletics), Trupti Murgunde (badminton), Pradeep Gandhe (badminton), N Usha (boxing), Lakha Singh (boxing), Sukhwinder Singh Sandhu (football), Ajeet Singh (hockey), Manpreet Singh (kabaddi), Manjeet Singh (rowing), Late Sachin Nag (swimming), Nandan Bal (tennis), Netar Pal Hooda (wrestling) and J Ranjit Kumar (para-athletics)
The National Sports Awards ceremony will take place virtually on August 29 due to the ongoing pandemic.
National Sports Awards, which includes the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, the Arjuna award, the Dronacharya award, and the Dhyan Chand award, are conferred on athletes each year by the President of India at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on August 29, the National Sports Day.
However, this year, the names would be announced by President Ram Nath Kovind virtually.
