Ministry of youth affairs and sports confirmed the name of Hockey player Sardara Singh and double Paralympic Gold medalist Devendra Jhajharia for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna on Thursday .They become 33rd and 34th recipient of Khel Ratna .The recipient(s) is/are selected by a committee constituted by the Ministry and is honoured for their “spectacular and most outstanding performance in the field of sports over a period of four years” at international level. As of 2016, the award comprises a medallion, a certificate, and a cash prize of ₹7.5 lakh (US$12,000).
Sardara Singh the former Indian hockey captain has taken Indian hockey to new heights ,he has helped India win the Asian games gold in 2014 , Silver at Commonwealth games 2014,Bronze at Hockey world league finals 2015 and also helped India to qualify for 2016 Rio Olympics. The man from Sirsa in Haryana plays as a midfielder in the team.
Must Read : Hockey India announces the team for European tour , 6 debutants included.
Whereas , Devendra Jhajharia is the 1st Indian para-athlete to win 2 golds at Paralympics for the country and now he will be the first Indian para athlete to receive Khel Ratna . Jhajharia won his first gold in the javelin throw at the 2004 Summer Paralympics held in Athens, becoming only the second gold medalist at the Paralympics for his country. At the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, he won his second gold medal in the same event bettering his previous record.
History of Khel Ratna
Chess grandmaster Vishwanathan Anand became the first recipient of the Khel Ratna in 1991-92 . In 2001,shooter Abhinav Bindra became the youngest recipient of the award at the age of just 18 . Usually this award is conferred for only one sportsperson per year but some exceptions have happen when more than one person received the honour in 1993–94, 2002, 2009, 2012, 2016 and now also in 2017 with Sardara and Devendra in the fray .
| Year | Recipient(s) | Discipline(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991–92 | Viswanathan Anand | Chess | |
| 1992–93 | Geet Sethi | Billiards | |
| 1993–94 † | Homi Motivala | Yachting (Team Event) | |
| 1993–94 † | Garg Pushpendra Kumar | Yachting (Team Event) | |
| 1994–95 | Karnam Malleswari | Weightlifting | |
| 1995–96 | Nameirakpam Kunjarani | Weightlifting | |
| 1996–97 | Leander Paes | Tennis | |
| 1997–98 | Sachin Tendulkar | Cricket | |
| 1998–99 | Jyotirmoyee Sikdar | Athletics | |
| 1999–2000 | Dhanraj Pillay | Hockey (Men) | |
| 2000–01 | Pullela Gopichand | Badminton | |
| 2001 | Abhinav Bindra | Shooting | |
| 2002 † | K. M. Beenamol | Athletics | |
| 2002 † | Anjali Bhagwat | Shooting | |
| 2003 | Anju Bobby George | Athletics | |
| 2004 | Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore | Shooting | |
| 2005 | Pankaj Advani | Billiards and Snooker | |
| 2006 | Manavjit Singh Sandhu | Shooting | |
| 2007 | Mahendra Singh Dhoni | Cricket | |
| 2008 | No award | ||
| 2009 † | Mary Kom | Boxing (Women) | |
| 2009 † | Vijender Singh | Boxing | |
| 2009 † | Sushil Kumar | Wrestling | |
| 2010 | Saina Nehwal | Badminton | |
| 2011 | Gagan Narang | Shooting | |
| 2012 † | Vijay Kumar | Shooting | |
| 2012 † | Yogeshwar Dutt | Wrestling | |
| 2013 | Ronjan Sodhi | Shooting | |
| 2014 | No award | ||
| 2015 | Sania Mirza | Tennis | |
| 2016 † | P. V. Sindhu | Badminton | |
| 2016 † | Dipa Karmakar | Gymnastics | |
| 2016 † | Jitu Rai | Shooting | |
| 2016 † | Sakshi Malik | Wrestling | |
Source : https://www.wikipedia.org/
