Rajiv Khel Ratna award winner Beenamol's accomplishments in athletics spurred development in her native village.
The Asian Games 400m gold medalist said she is recovering well from the toe injury she suffered recently.
Twenty-one sportspersons, including cricketer Virender Sehwag, footballer I M Vijayan and hockey player Gagan Ajit Singh, have been named for the Arjuna awards 2002.
Beenamol edged out ace shooter Anjali Bhagwat who was initially in the running.
Have your say on the latest controversy on the country's prestigious sports awards.
For the first time, three top sportspersons -- boxers M C Mary Kom and Vijender Singh, and wrestler Sushil Kumar -- were selected for the country's highest sporting honour, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna. While the prestigious award was previously shared by two sportspersons in 1996-97 and 2002-03, Wednesday marked the first time that three were picked for the coveted honour for outstanding performances in 2008-09.
The Indian team for the SAF Games in Islamabad will be chosen on the performance in the championships.
The quartet of K M Beenamol, Manjeet Kaur, Rajwinder Kaur and Chitra K Soman clocked 3 minutes 26.89 seconds to qualify to the final in the event.
The women's quartet of S Geeta, K M Beenamol, Chitra K Soman and Rajwinder Kaur clocked 3:28.51 seconds, slower than the new national best of 3:26.89 seconds they posted in qualifying for the final.
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