Khel Ratna Award: Vinesh Phogat, Manika recommended for India's highest sporting honour

Wrestler Vinesh Phogat and table tennis player Manika Batra are the two women athletes recommended for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award – India's highest sporting honour. India's opening batsman Rohit Sharma, and Paralympic gold medallist Thangavelu Mariyappan are also among the names recommended for the prestige. The names were decided after the National Sports Awards selection committee met this Tuesday to zero in on candidates for the Khel Ratna Award and other national honours like the Arjuna Award.

Also read | Sports Ministry invites nominations for Arjuna & Khel Ratna Award 2020

Manika Batra, Vinesh Phogat, Rohit Sharma and Thangavelu Mariyappan among nominees for Khel Ratna Award

4 players recommended for India's highest sporting honour the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna. @ImRo45 @Phogat_Vinesh @manikabatra_TT and Paralympic Gold medalist M Thangavelu. Only second time that 4 players recommended after 2016 @WIONews

— Digvijay Singh Deo (@DiggySinghDeo) August 18, 2020

Virender Sehwag and Sardar Singh were part of the National Sports Awards selection committee that met at Sports Authority of India (SAI) headquarters in New Delhi. This is the second time the award committee has nominated four names at one time. In 2016, Rio Olympics silver medallist PV Sindhu, Dipa Karmarkar, Sakshi Malik and shooter Jitu Rai were collectively awarded the Khel Ratna award. If Rohit Sharma bags the award, he will be the fourth Indian cricketer to do so. Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli have previously been honoured with the Khel Ratna Award in 1998, 2017 and 2018. Kohli won the award along with weightlifter Mirabai Chanu.

Also read | Sprinter Hima Das nominated for Khel Ratna award

Vinesh Phogat

In 2018, Vinesh Phogat became the first woman wrestler to win a gold medal at the Asian Games. She has also bagged the gold at the 2018 Commonwealth games, and is the 2019 Asian Wrestling Championships' bronze medallist. She is also the first Indian to be nominated for the Laureus World Sports Awards in 2019.

Manika Batra

Star paddler Manika Batra has been nominated for India's highest sporting honour after clinching the gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. She also won the bronze during the Asian Games. Along with Mouma Das, Batra won India's first silver medal in the women's doubles category at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Rohit Sharma

The Indian cricketer earned his nomination after a successful 2019 calendar year in what was his most successful year statistically across all formats. He finished the year as the highest run-scorer in the 50-over format with 1,490 runs in ODIs which includes seven hundreds – the most by any cricketer in a calendar year. 

Mariappan Thangavelu

Thangavelu created history after he won the gold medal under the High Jump category at the Rio Paralympic Games. He is India's first Paralympian gold medallist since 2004. In 2017, he was awarded the Padma Sri and the Arjuna Award.

Also read | Wrestler Vinesh Phogat sees 'Japan as her biggest challenge'

This will be the first time the National Sports Awards ceremony will most likely be held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. All the winners will be announced on August 29. Apart from the Arjuna and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, the Dronacharya Award and the Dhyan Chand Award winners will also be announced. Last year, Paralympian Deepa Malik and wrestler Bajrang Punia won the Khel Ratna Award. 

Also read | Vinesh Phogat wins 3rd successive gold in 53kg in Poland Open

(Image credits: Rohit Sharma, Manika Batra Instagram, Vinesh Phogat Facebook)