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Cricketing icon Sachin Tendulkar, chess grandmaster Viswanathan Anand, sprint queen P T Usha and football legend Bhaichung Bhutia are among the prominent sports personalities invited for the consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya next week.
The 500+ state guest list features a mix of politicians, actors, sports stars and industrialists who have been invited for the event on Monday.
Besides Tendulkar, World Cup winning captain Kapil Dev, batting great Sunil Gavaskar as well as Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble, Virender Sehwag and India cricket coach Rahul Dravid are on the list too.
From the current Indian cricket team, Ravindra Jadeja and Rohit Sharma have been invited.
Weightlifter Karnam Malleswari, footballer Kalyan Chaube, long-distance runner Kavita Raut Tungar and paralympic javelin thrower Devendra Jhanjadia have received an invitation as have women cricket captain Mitali Raj, shuttlers Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu and her trainer Pullela Gopichand.
It is not clear how many of them will actually attend the opening of the 161-feet-tall pink sandstone shrine.