The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has recommended Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, the highest sporting award which is awarded to sportsmen who bring laurels to the country by winning medals at international events.

Apart from Vinesh and Punia, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has recommended Rahul Aware, Harpreet Singh, Divya Kakran and Pooja Dhanda for Arjuna award while Virender Kumar, Sujeet Maan, Narendra Kumar and Vikram Kumar have been recommended for Dronacharya award.

Bheem Singh and Jai Prakash have been recommended for the Dhyan Chand award. Vinesh recently became the first Indian female athlete to be nominated for the Laureus Sports Award.

Punia has been in a rich medal winning form clinching eight gold medals from his previous nine international tournaments including making it to the podium in last year's Commonwealth and Asian Games.

Asian champion Bajrang Punia is to become the first Indian wrestler to fight at New York's iconic Madison Square Garden.

Punia, who won the 65kg men's freestyle gold at the recent Asian championships, will be among top wrestlers selected by the American governing body for the May 6 tournament.

The 25-year-old will take on two-time US national champion Yianni Diakomahlis in the "Grapple at the Garden" Beat the Streets event which since 2010 has become a major showcase for international wrestling

Vinesh is one of India's most accomplished female wrestlers who has brought back laurels to the nation by winning medals at the Asian and Commonwealth Games. Vinesh stood a great chance of winning a medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics but her good run at the event ended with a loss to against China’s Sun Yanan in the women’s freestyle 48kg quarterfinal. She injured her knee badly and many feared that she may not be able to wrestle again. However, doctors said that it was a tendon tear and not a fracture and that she would regain fitness again.

Vinesh shot into limelight after clinching gold in Women's Freestyle 50 kg event by defeating Canada's Jessica MacDonald in the 50 kg category to win India's first gold in the women's wrestling category at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast. In the 2018 Asian Games, she scripted history as she became the first Indian woman wrestler to win gold in the Asian Games by beating Japan's Yuki Irie in Women's 50 kg Freestyle Wrestling