New Delhi: Olympic heroes, shooter Vijay Kumar and wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt were jointly recommended for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award on Saturday, the country’s highest sporting honour.
The names of pistol shooter Vijay Kumar, who won a silver in the 25m rapid fire event at the London Olympics and Yogeshwar, who bagged a bronze in 60kg freestyle event, were selected by the Arjuna Awards and Khel Ratna Committee, headed by Athens Olympics silver medallist shooter Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore.
Cricketer Yuvraj Singh, who is preparing to stage a comeback after recovering from a rare germ cell cancer, is among the 25 sportspersons who have been nominated for the Arjuna Award.
The final list of award winners is expected to be announced in a couple of days by the Sports Ministry.
Generally, the names submitted by the Committees are accepted by the Ministry.
Hockey mid-fielder Sardar Singh, wrestler Geeta Phogat, and Narsingh Yadav, shooters Annu Raj Singh and Omkar Singh, shuttlers P Kashyap and Ashwini Ponappa, archers Deepika Kumari and Bombayla Devi are among Arjuna Award winners, according to a source.
Bronze medallist Yogeshwar is extremely proud after his name was nominated for the prestigious award.
“It is a proud moment for me. I am thankful to the people of the country and to all my well wishers who have shown great faith in me,” the star grappler said in response to the news.
“The immediate recognition of the feat is even more delightful. It will definitely motivate me to do well for my country in the future events,” he added.
Yogeshwar clinched a bronze in the 60kg freestyle category at the just concluded London Games after defeating North Korea’s Jong Myong Ri in the repechage round.
“It is not only a great thing for wrestling but also for the entire sports, as it will inspire the budding athletes to bring laurels to their country,” Yogeshwar said.
Meanwhile, India’s lone woman grappler at the Olympics, Geeta Phogat was recommended for the Arjuna award.
She said the recognition will motivate many more girls to take up the sport.
“It is a great moment for me and for the women’s wrestling. The award will motivate many more girls to take up the traditional sport,” Geeta said.
“I got the state honour and now my name has been recommended for the prestigious Arjuna award, these type of recognitions play an important role in an athletes life. They motivate you to raise the bar of your performance every time you don the country colours,” she added. (PTI)