Sport - Sports : General

Dhoni recommended for Khel Ratna

Mumbai: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has recommended India’s One-Day International and Twenty20 captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, the highest honour for any sportsperson in the country.

The BCCI Chief Administrative Officer, Ratnakar Shetty, said the Board had forwarded its recommendation to the Sports Ministry.

Under Dhoni, India won the tri-series in Australia and also the ICC World Twenty20 tournament in South Africa.

In case Dhoni wins the award, he will be the second cricketer to get the honour, following Sachin Tendulkar, who won it in 1997-98.

The President will give away the award, along with Arjuna and Dronacharya awards, at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on August 29.

The list of Khel Ratna awardees includes Viswanathan Anand (chess), Geet Sethi (billiards), K. Malleswari (weightlifting), Leander Paes (tennis), N. Kunjarani (weightlifting), Jyotirmoyee Sikdar (athletics), Dhanraj Pillay (hockey), P. Gopichand (badminton), Abhinav Bindra (shooting), Anjali Bhagwat (shooting) Anju Bobby George (athletics), Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (shooting), Pankaj Advani (billiards and snooker) and Manavjit Singh (shooting). — PTI

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu