BCCI recommends Kohli for Khel Ratna, Dravid for Dronacharya

Kolkata, April 26 

The Indian cricket board (BCCI) has recommended India captain Virat Kohli for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna honour and Rahul Dravid for the prestigious Dronacharya Award. Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has been recommended for the Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award.

“We have sent a number of nominations in various categories to the government. Rahul is the BCCI nominee for the Dronacharya Award,” said CoA chief Vinod Rai. Dravid has been nominated for successfully guiding the India U-19 team to the World Cup title earlier this year. Under his guidance, the Indian colts had finished runners-up in the 2016 edition of the tournament. Dravid works with India A teams as well.

BCCI had stopped sending nominations for the Dronacharya Awards because of multiple coaches claiming credit for a player’s success. “For someone of Rahul’s stature, we have decided to depart from convention,” said a BCCI official, explaining Dravid’s nomination for the award. 

Kohli has been nominated second time for the highest sporting award. His name was recommended in 2016 but as it was an Olympics year, the award was given to three Rio Olympics stars — PV Sindhu, Sakshi Malik and Deepa Karmakar. — PTI

Recommended for Arjuna Award

Shooting: Shreyasi Singh

She won a historic double trap gold in the Gold Coast CWG

Ankur Mittal

Won a gold and silver in the double trap event in ISSF World Cups last year and a bronze medal at Gold Coast 

Shahzar Rizvi

He won a silver medal in the 10m air pistol event at the ISSF World Cup in Changwon, Korea, two days back

Pooja Ghatkar

She won gold in the 10m air rifle event at the Commonwealth Shooting Championship in Brisbane ahead of the CWG

Boxing: Gaurav Bidhuri

Won a bronze in the World Championship last year 

Sonia Lather 

Silver medal in the Asian Championship 

Tennis: Yuki Bhambri

Yuki recently broke into top-100, achieving his career-best rank of 83

Rohan Bopanna

Won the French Open mixed doubles title last year