Rohit Sharma, Vinesh Phogat, Manika Batra, Mariappan and Rani Rampal to get Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award

India’s vice-captain and opening batsman Rohit Sharma is among the 5 athletes who will receive India’s highest sporting honour — the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award for 2020.

Along with Rohit Sharma, Asian Games gold medalist Vinesh Phogat, table tennis champion Manika Batra, India hockey women’s captain Rani Rampal and Paralympic gold medalist Mariappan Thangavelu will also get the Khel Ratna Award.

Besides Rohit, his teammate Ishant Sharma and women cricketer Deepti Sharma will be getting the Arjuna Award. Archer Atanu Das and shooter Manu Bhasker are also among 27 sportspersons who will be conferred with Arjuna Award this year.

This is the first time in the history of National Sports awards that 5 sportsperson will be receiving Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award and 27 athletes will be conferred with Arjuna Award. The ceremony will be conducted virtually with President Ramnath Kovind giving away the awards on Aug 29.

Rohit Sharma is only the 4th cricketer after Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli to be conferred with Khel Ratna Award. Tendulkar was the first Indian cricketer to bag the Khel Ratna Award when he did so in 1998. Dhoni received the sporting honour after leading India to the T20 World Cup in 2007 while Virat Kohli won the award along with weightlifter Mirabai Chanu in 2018.

Vinesh Phogat became the first woman wrestler to win an Asian Games gold medal in 2018 while star paddler Manika Batra had a remarkable year in 2018 wherein she won the Commonwealth Games gold medal and Asian Games bronze in women’s singles.

Paddler Manika had a successful 2018 and won CWG gold and Asian Games bronze. Mariyappan got the nod for his gold medal in the 2016 Rio Paralympics, in T42 high jump. Rani was a late inclusion and became only the third hockey player and first female hockey player to win the award.

Full list of Sports awards:

1. RAJIV GANDHI KHEL RATNA AWARD

1. Rohit Sharma (Cricket)
2. Mariyappan T. (Para-Athletics)
3. Manika Batra (Table Tennis)
4. Vinesh Phogat (Wrestling)
5. Rani Rampal (Hockey)

2. DRONACHARYA AWARD

A. Life- Time Category

1. Dharmendra Tiwary (Archery)
2. Purushotham Rai (Athletics)
3. Shiv Singh (Boxing)
4. Romesh Pathania (Hockey)
5. Krishan Kumar Hooda (Kabaddi)
6. Vijay Bhalchandra Munishwar (Para Powerlifting)
7. Naresh Kumar (Tennis)
8. Om Parkash Dahiya (Wrestling)

B. Regular Category

1. Jude Felix Sebastian (Hockey)
2. Yogesh Malviya (Mallakhamb)
3. Jaspal Rana (Shooting)
4. Kuldeep Kumar Handoo (Wushu)
5. Gaurav Khanna (Para Badminton)

3. ARJUNA AWARD

1. Atanu Das (Archery)
2. Dutee Chand (Athletics)
3. Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy (Badminton)
4. Chirag Chandrasekhar Shetty (Badminton)
5. Vishesh Bhriguvanshi (Basketball)
6. Manish Kaushik (Boxing)
7. Lovlina Borgohain (Boxing)
8. Ishant Sharma (Cricket)
9. Deepti Sharma (Cricket)
10. Sawant Ajay Anant (Equestrian)
11. Sandesh Jhingan (Football)
12. Aditi Ashok (Golf)
13. Akashdeep Singh (Hockey)
14. Deepika (Hockey)
15. Deepak (Kabaddi)
16. Kale Sarika Sudhakar (Kho Kho)
17. Dattu Baban Bhokanal (Rowing)
18. Manu Bhaker (Shooting)
19. Saurabh Chaudhary (Shooting)
20. Madhurika Suhas Patkar (Table Tennis)
21. Divij Sharan (Tennis)
22. Shiva Keshavan (Winter Sports)
23. Divya Kakran (Wrestling)
24. Rahul Aware (Wrestling)
25. Suyash Narayan Jadhav (Para-Swimming)
26. Sandeep (Para-Athletics)
27. Manish Narwal (Para Shooting)