Vijay, Yogeshwar to get Khel Ratna

Olympic heroes, shooter Vijay Kumar and wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt were jointly recommended for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, the country's highest sporting honour.

The names of pistol shooter Vijay Kumar, who won a silver in the 25m rapid fire event at the London Olympics and Yogeshwar, who bagged a bronze in 60kg free style event, were selected by the Arjuna Awards and Khel Ratna Committee, headed by Athens Olympics silver medallist shooter Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore.

Cricketer Yuvraj Singh, who is preparing to stage a comeback after recovering from a rare germ cell cancer, is among the 25 sportsperson, who have been nominated for the Arjuna Award.

The final list of award winners is expected to be announced in a couple of days by the Sports Ministry.

Generally, the names submitted by the Committees are accepted by the Ministry.

Hockey mid-fielder Sardar Singh, wrestler Geeta Phogat, and Narsingh Yadav, shooters Annu Raj Singh and Omkar Singh, shuttlers P Kashyap and Ashwini Ponappa, archers Deepika Kumari and Bombayla Devi are among Arjuna Award winners, according to a reliable source.