Virat Kohli, the Indian cricket skipper, will be receiving the highest sporting honour of India i.e., Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award on September 25, the Sports Ministry announced on Thursday. Though the list was already out, the ministry made it official on Thursday.
Virat Kohli, who is currently been rested for the ongoing Asia Cup, has been adjudged for this honour following his emphatic cricket career. Being world's No.1 Test batsman as per the ICC rankings, he has been in stupendous form in the past three years though he missed out of the top award despite nominations in 2016 and 2017.
The 29-year-old Kohli has 6147 runs in 71 Tests with 23 centuries and 9779 runs in 211 ODIs, including 35 tons.
From Indian women’s cricket, star opener Smriti Mandhna is set to receive the Arjuna Award. Earlier in the month of April, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) recommended the names of Mandhana and Shikhar Dhawan for the honour. While Dhawan missed it this year, the 21-year-old women’s cricketing sensation made it through.
Mandhana drew attention after her prolific knocks in the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 held in England. She went on to grab a career-high fourth position in the ICC women's ranking.
She has 81 runs in 2 Tests, 1602 runs in 44 ODIs and 857 in 43 T20Is.
Apart from Kohli, India woman weightlifter Mirabai Chanu will also receive the prestigious Khel Ratna. She has been chosen for the prestigious award following her gold medal in the 48kg category at the World Championships last year.
Here’s the complete list of awardees:
Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award: Virat Kohli and Mirabai Chanu.
Arjuna Awards: Neeraj Chopra, Jinson Johnson and Hima Das (Athletics); N Sikki Reddy (Badminton); Satish Kumar (Boxing); Smriti Mandhana (Cricket); Shubhankar Sharma (Golf); Manpreet Singh, Savita (Hockey); Ravi Rathore (Polo); Rahi Sarnobat, Ankur Mittal, Shreyasi Singh (Shooting); Manika Batra, G Sathiyan (Table Tennis); Rohan Bopanna (Tennis); Sumit (Wrestling); Pooja Kadian (Wushu); Ankur Dhama (Para-Athletics); Manoj Sarkar (Para-Badminton).
Dronacharya Awards: CA Kuttappa (Boxing); Vijay Sharma (Weightlifting); A Srinivasa Rao (Table Tennis); Sukhdev Singh Pannu (Athletics); Clarence Lobo (Hockey, Lifetime); Tarak Sinha (Cricket, Lifetime); Jiwan Kumar Sharma (Judo, Lifetime); V R Beedu (Athletics, Lifetime).
Dhyan Chand Awards: Satyadev Prasad (Archery); Bharat Kumar Chetry (Hockey); Bobby Aloysius (Athletics); Chougale Dadu Dattatray (Wrestling).