Neeraj Chopra, gold medalist at Tokyo Olympics, along with 11 other athletes have been listed for the Dhyanchand Khel Ratna- India’s highest sporting honour.
Wrestler Ravi Dahiya, who won a silver medal in Tokyo, and boxer Lovlina Borgohain, who won bronze, Indian hockey team’s goalkeeper PR Sreejesh were amongst the other Olympic heroes nominated by the National Sports Awards Committee on Wednesday.
All five of the gold medalists from Tokyo Paralympics- Avani Lekhara (shooting), Manish Narwal (shooting), Sumit Antil (athletics), Pramod Bhagat (badminton) and Krishna Nagar (badminton) have also been included in the list.
India’s football captain Sunil Chhetri, along with cricketing legend Mithali Raj has also been named amongst the 11.
Instituted in 1991-92, The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award was rechristened to Major Dhyanchand Khel Ratna Award last year to “respect the sentiments of the citizen of this country.”