Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna.
The pugilist from Manipur was on Monday recommended to the sports ministry alongwith Beijing Olympic bronze medallists boxer Vijender Singh and wrestler Sushil Kumar for the coveted awards by a panel of experts headed by table tennis star of yesteryears, Indu Puri.
The fact that three sportspersons have been recommended is unprecented in the history of the awards. The three were picked on the basis of their performance in 2008.
Mary Kom won her fourth world championship title during the year while both Vijender and Suhil excelled in Beijing Olympics.
The sports ministry will now take the decision on giving the award jointly to them or picking just one. The award has been shared in the past when yatchers Homi D Motivala and PK Garg bagged it together in 1994.
Tennis star Leander Paes and weightlifter N Kunjarani Devi got it for 1996 while Anjali Bhagwat (shooting) and KM Beenamol (athletics) shared it for 2002.
"We have primarily recommended Mary Kom for the Khel Ratna. But at the same time one could not have ignored Vijender and Sushil for their Olympic medals. So, we have sent three names to the ministry which will take the final call," a source told TOI.
The experts also named 15 sportspersons for the Arjuna awards. The list includes cricketer Gautam Gambhir, badminton star Saina Nehwal and hockey player Ignace Tirkey. Delhi's Tania Sachdev has also been picked for the award in chess.
A different panel, headed by eminent athlete GS Randhawa, selected five coaches for the Dronacharya awards - P Gopi Chand (badminton), Satpal (wrestling), Baldev Singh (hockey), Jaidev Bisht (boxing) and Uday Kumar (kabaddi).
THE RECOMMENDATIONS
Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna: MC Mary Kom, Vijender Singh, Sushil Kumar
Arjuna awards: Gautam Gambhir (cricket), Sinimole Paulose (athletics), Saina Nehwal (badminton), L Sarita Devi (boxing), Ignace Tirkey (hockey), Surender Kaur (hockey), Ronjan Sodhi (shooting), Mangal Singh Champia (archery), Paulomi Ghatak (table tennis), Tania Sachdev (chess), Yogeshwar Dutt (wrestling), Satish Joshi (rowing), Pankaj Shirsat (kabaddi), GL yadav (yachting) and Boniface Prabhu (paralympics).
Dronacharya awards: Gopi Chand (badminton), Satpal (wrestling), Baldev Singh (hockey), Jaidev Bisht (boxing) and Uday Kumar (kabaddi).
