Deepa Malik Joins Bajrang for Khel Ratna, Jadeja Among 19 for Arjuna Award 

New Delhi: India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was among the 19 names recommended for the Arjuna Award while para-athlete Deepa Malik was chosen for India's highest sporting honour, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award. Wrestler Bajrang Punia was also recommended for the Khel Ratna as was reported by IANS on Friday.

Punia along with Vinesh Phogat was recommended by the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) for the prestigious award. Deepa Malik won silver in shot put in the F53 classification and also bagged two bronze medals (javelin F53-54 and shot put F51-52-53) at the Asian Games.

The 12-member committee, which met in New Delhi on Friday and Saturday to select the recommendations, included Mary Kom, Bhaichung Bhutia, Anju Bobby George, Anjum Chopra and Kamlesh Mehta, besides those nominated by the Sports Ministry. The other prominent names are Supreme Court judge Justice (Retd) Mukundakam Sharma, Sports Secretary Radhey Shyam Jhulaniya, Sports Authority of India Director General Sandeep Pradhan and Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) CEO Commander Rajesh Rajagopalan.

The committee nominated five names for the Dhyan Chand Award, ranking them in order of priority, in case the Ministry decides to prune the list. The top nominee for the award is Manuel Fredericks, part of the hockey team that won bronze at the 1972 Munich Olympics. The other nominees are Arup Basak (table tennis), Nitin Kirtane (tennis), Manoj Kumar (wrestling) and Chhangte Lalremsanga (archery).

Six-time world champion and Olympic bronze medallist boxer MC Mary Kom recused herself from the meeting to not get into conflict of interest because her personal coach Chhotelal Yadav was in contention for the Dronacharya Award. IANS

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