India pacer Ishant Sharma, star pistol shooters Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary and Rio 2016 bronze medallist wrestler Sakshi Malik are among the 25 athletes who have been recommended for the Arjuna Award after the National Award Committee’s meeting held here on Tuesday.
Ishant has played an integral role in India’s stay at the top of the ICC Test rankings from October 2016 to May this year. He has been a core member of India’s pace attack in Tests along with Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami, which has often been rated as the best in the world over the past two years.
Star men’s doubles badminton pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have also been included in the list of recommendations along with veteran tennis player Divij Sharan. Recurve archer Atanu Das, table tennis player Madhurika Patkar also made it to the list.
The committee has recommended five athletes this year for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award — star Indian batsman Rohit Sharma, decorated wrestler Vinesh Phogat, Indian women’s hockey team captain Rani Rampal, table tennis star Manika Batra and Rio Paralympics gold medallist Mariyappan Thangavelu.
Meanwhile, India’s star batsman Rohit Sharma, wrestler Vinesh Phogat, 2016 Rio Paralympics gold medallist Mariyappan Thangavelu, table tennis sensation Manika Batra and Indian women’s hockey captain Rani Rampal have been recommended for this year’s Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award.
According to sources, the National Award Committee met in the Capital on Tuesday and named the five athletes for the prestigious award.
Rohit was the star performer for India in the 2019 World Cup, scoring 648 runs in the tournament while Vinesh sealed qualification to the Tokyo Olympics with her bronze medal win at the 2019 wrestling World Championships. Vinesh also remains one of the biggest medal hopes for the country going into the Games which have been postponed to next year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.