The veteran Indian fast bowler, Ishant Sharma, and archer Atanu Das are among the 29 sportspersons recommended for the Arjuna award by the sports ministry’s selection committee. Earlier in the day, Indian teammate of Ishant, Rohit Sharma and decorated woman wrestler Vinesh Phogat were among the four athletes recommended for this year’s Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, which is India’s highest honor for a sportsperson. 

Male recurve archer Atanu Das, women’s hockey player Deepika Thakur, the Indian all-rounder, Deepak Hooda, and Tennis player Divij Sharan have also been recommended for the coveted recognition, as informed by the source of the PTI after the selection committee’s meeting in Delhi on Tuesday. The 31-year-old Ishant has played as many as 97 Tests, 80 ODIs, and 14 T20Is for India, in which he has scalped as many as 430 international wickets.

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It has also been learned that Olympic bronze-winning wrestler Sakshi Malik and former world champion weightlifter Mirabai Chanu also have been received a nod for the selection panel but the final decision has been left on sports minister Kiren Rijiju as both the women have already the Khel Ratna awards.

While Sakshi won the Khel Ratna in 2016 for her Olympic bronze in the Rio Olympics, Mirabai received the coveted recognition in 2018 along with India captain Virat Kohli for her world championship gold medal.

Rohit earned the nomination after a fabulous 2019 with the bat. The other two include – paddler Manika Batra and Rio Paralympic gold-winning high jumper Mariappan Thangavelu.

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Rohit will be the fourth cricketer after legendary Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni and Kohli to received the highest award for a sportsperson. Tendulkar was awarded the Khel Ratna in 1998, Dhoni got it in 2007 and Kohli received in 2018.