The season of the most prestigious awards for sports has started where players of various sports will be awarded Khel Ratna award and Arjuna Award.
The names of the Indian Cricket Captain Virat Kohli along with Mirabai Chanu, the World Champion weightlifter were proposed for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award.
On the other hand, Neeraj Chopra the phenomenal Javelin thrower has also selected for the Arjuna Awards.
For the sport of Badminton, the young and dynamic shuttler N Sikki Reddy has also nominated for the Arjuna Award. Sikki has been an explicit player for the country having won gold in the Mixed Doubles and Silver in the Women's Doubles category at the 2016 South Asian Games, along with bronze at the Commonwealth Games in the Women's Doubles category, to name few.
The ace shuttler and former World No 1 Kidambi Srikanth was also recommended for the Kel Ratna Award for his tremendous performance in the BWF Superseries previous year. However, he lost out to Chanu, the 24-years-old top world Champion in the 48kg category, as quoted in IBTimes.
Besides Sikki, many other prominent athletes were also recommended for the Arjuna Awards including the junior world champion sprinter Hima Das. The middle distance runner Jinson Johnson who won gold at the Asian Games, Indian female Cricketer Smriti Mandhana, Manpreet Singh and Savita Punia the dynamic hockey players, the gold medallist at the multiple Commonwealth Games Manika Batra and Tennis doubles player and gold medal winner at the Asian Games Rohan Bopanna.
The Sports Minister of India, Rajyavardhan Rathore will approve the recommendations after which President Ram Nath Kovind will bestow the players with the prestigious awards on September 25th at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.
After the legendary player Sachin Tendulkar and former Indian cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli will be the third Indian cricketer who is recommended for the prestigious award.
Para-badminton player Manoj Sarkar is also selected for Arjuna Award.
As quoted on IBT, a source revealed, "Yes, Virat Kohli and Mirabai Chanu's names have been recommended by the awards committee," a prominent source told PTI on condition of anonymity.
The Asian Games gold-medallist Amit Panghal was also recommended but since he failed his doping test in 2012, his name was removed from the list of the deserving candidates, as a source revealed.
On the other hand, Satish Kumar, the bronze medallist of the Asian Games and Silver medallist of the Commonwealth Games is the only boxer to receive Arjuna Award in 2018. Ravi Rathore, Ankur Mittal, and Shreyasi Singh, three shooters are also on the list. On the other hand, Para-sports athlete Ankur Dharma is also recommended.
Usually, the award ceremony is celebrated on National Sports day, 19th August but as the dates of Asian Games that took place in Jakarta and Palembang was clashing with it, the ceremony was postponed to 25th September.
The total cash prize of Rs. 7.5 lakh will be bestowed to the awardees of Khel Ratna, whereas the Arjuna Award winners received Rs. 5 lakhs.
Arjuna Award Recommendations:
Neeraj Chopra (Athletics); Jinson Johnson (Athletics), Hima Das (Athletics); N Sikki Reddy (Badminton); Satish Kumar (Boxing); Smriti Mandhana (Cricket); Shubankar Sharma (Golf); Manpreet Singh (Hockey); Savita (Hockey); Ravi Rathore (Polo); Rahi Sarnobat (Shooting); Ankur Mittal (Shooting); Shreyashi Singh (Shooting); Manika Batra (Table Tennis); G Sathiyan (Table Tennis); Rohan Bopanna (Tennis); Sumit (Wrestling); Pooja Kadian (Wushu); Ankur Dharma (Para athletics); Manoj Sarkar (Para badminton).
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