Mohammad Shami nominated for Arjuna Award, Satwik-Chirag for Khel Ratna

Vinayak Padmadeo

New Delhi, December 13

Badminton stars Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have been recommended for the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award.

The committee headed by Justice retd AM Khanwilkar has forwarded the names of the ace doubles pair for the country’s highest sporting award. The committee, which also included Dhanraj Pillay, Kamlesh Mehta, Akhil Kumar, Shuma Shirur, Anjum Chopra, Tripti Murgunde and Farman Pasha, has suggested that the badminton duo should jointly get the Khel Ratna Award.

There were a total of seven athletes who had been in the reckoning for the award, including archer Jyothi Surekha Vennam, shooter Manu Bhaker, hockey captain Harmanpreet Singh, steeplechaser Avinash Sable, discus thrower Seema Punia and boxer Nikhat Zareen.

However, after a series of elimination the committee decided to unanimously nominate Satwiksairaj and Chirag.

Further, the committee approved over 25 names for the Arjuna Award. Indian pacer Mohammad Shami, who had a wonderful World Cup in which he ended as the top wicket-taker with 24 wickets, has been nominated for the award. Shami was a last-minute inclusion and his name was forwarded directly by the Sports Ministry.

The Indian women’s team members Shafali Verma and Rajeshwari Gayakwad were also in the mix. However, they were unlucky to miss out.

The Indian blind team’s current captain Ajay Kumar Reddy got the recommendation for the award.

Khel Ratna Award

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty (badminton)

Arjuna Award

Mohammed Shami (cricket), Ajay Reddy (blind cricket) Ojas Pravin Deotale, Aditi Gopichand Swami (archery), Sheetal Devi (para archery), Parul Chaudhary and M Sreeshankar (athletics), Mohd Hussamuddin (boxing), R Vaishali (chess), Divyakriti Singh and Anush Agarwalla (equestrian), Diksha Dagar (golf), Krishan Bahadur Pathak and Sushila Chanu (hockey), Pinky (lawn ball), Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar (shooting), Antim Panghal (wrestling), Ayhika Mukherjee (table tennis)

Dhyan Chand Lifetime Award

Kavita (kabaddi), Manjusha Kanwar (badminton) Vineet Kumar Sharma (hockey)

Dronacharya Award

Ganesh Prabhakaran (mallakhamb), Mahavir Saini (para athletics), Lalit Kumar (wrestling), RB Ramesh (chess), Shivendra Singh (hockey)