Khel Ratna proposed for Rohit
He'll be the fourth cricketer after Tendulkar, Dhoni, and Kohli to receive country's highest sports honour
Mumbai's cricketer Rohit Sharma and along with woman wrestler Vinesh Phogat are among the five athletes recommended on Tuesday for this year's Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, the country's highest sporting honour.
The 33-year-old Rohit Sharma will only be the fourth cricketer after Sachin Tendulkar, just-retired Mahendra Singh Dhoni and current skipper Virat Kohli to be conferred with the Khel Ratna.
Woman paddler Manika Batra and Rio Paralympic gold-winning high jumper Mariappan Thangavelu were the other two sportspersons recommended for the prestigious award by a 12-member selection committee of the Sports Ministry. Incidentally, this is for the second time that four athletes have been recommended for the top sporting accolade.
It was in the year 2016 four athletes, shuttler P V Sindhu, gymnast Dipa Karmakar, shooter Jitu Rai, and wrestler Sakshi Malik were collectively given this award.
Tendulkar was the first Indian cricketer to get the Khel Ratna in 1998, followed by Dhoni in 2007 and Kohli in 2018, who won it jointly with weightlifter Mirabai Chanu.
Women's hockey skipper Rani Rampal were among an unprecedented five picked for the award, while another unparalleled 29 were recommended for the Arjuna award by the sports ministry's selection committee here on Tuesday. Rampal was a late addition to the initial list of four.
"It's a proud moment for me. It was a long wait but it was worthwhile. If God permits I would live up to the reputation associated with this award," Vinesh said.
Rani is only the third and lone female hockey player to have been recommended for the honour.
Before Rani, only Dhanraj Pillay (2000) and Sardar Singh (2017) won the prestigious award. Sardar, incidentally, was a part of the 12-member selection committee this year.
Rani led the team to historic victories in the Women's Asia Cup in 2017, silver at the 2018 Asian Games and played a critical role in the FIH Olympic Qualifiers in 2019 by scoring the deciding goal that helped India qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.
The team also climbed to a careerbest ninth the FIH world rankings.
In a first, this year's National Sports Awards ceremony, which normally held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, is likely to be conducted virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with all the winners logging in from their respective places to hear their names being announced on August 29.
August 29 is celebrated as the National Sports Day to commemorate the birth anniversary of hockey wizard Major Dhyan Chand.
The Khel Ratna comprises a medallion, a certificate, and a cash prize of Rs 7.5 lakh. The Arjuna award comes with a cash prize of Rs 5,00,000, a bronze statue of mythological hero Arjuna and a scroll. The National Sports Awards also include the Dronacharya and the Dhyan Chand honours for achievements in coaching. They are conferred every year by the President of India.
PTI adds:
New Delhi: India pacer Ishant Sharma was on Tuesday named in a 29strong list of athletes recommended for this year's Arjuna award by the sports ministry's selection committee.
Male recurve archer Atanu Das, women's hockey team player Deepika Thakur, cricketer Deepak Hooda and tennis player Divij Sharan have also been recommended for the award, an official source told PTI after the selection committee's meeting here.