The Rajiv Khel Ratna, India's highest sports honour, will not be shared in future, except in the case of Olympic medal winners, the Sports Ministry said on Wednesday.
The prestigious award carries a prize money of Rs 25 lakh.
India's badminton ace Saina Nehwal will be conferred the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, the country's highest sports honour.
The 21-year-old cueist won the World billiards championship in 2005 and World snooker title in 2003.
The BCCI has also recommended Yuvraj Singh and former women's captain Anjum Chopra for Arjuna awards.
Beenamol edged out ace shooter Anjali Bhagwat who was initially in the running.
The BCCI has also put forward the names of Irfan Pathan and Yuvraj Singh for the Arjuna Award.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal received the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award from Sports Minister M S Gill after missing out on the August 29 ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhawan due to the World Championships in Paris.
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.
Olympic bronze medal-winning wrestler Sakshi Malik is all set to be conferred with the country's highest sporting honour, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award.
Veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh on Saturday clarified the Punjab government's decision to withdraw his nomination for this year's Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award as he doesn't fit in the eligibility criteria for country's highest sporting honour.
The Government of India has hiked the prize-money for its annual sporting honours, including the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and Arjuna award. The Khel Ratna recipient will now receive Rs 750,000, Rs 250,000 more than previously awarded.
Fifteen other top sportspersons, including woman shuttler Aparna Popat and shooter Gagan Narang were presented the Arjuna award.
The 30-year-old world champion trap shooter was bestowed with the country's highest sports award.
Table tennis player Manika Batra, who will be conferred with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award this year, said that the accolade would spur her to bring more laurels for the country.
The BCCI this year hasn't forwarded any name for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, the highest honour for active sportspersons in the country, since the Indian cricket board didn't find any fitting cricketer for the award.
The BCCI has decided to recommend women's cricket great Mithali Raj and premier spinner Ravichandran Ashwin for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, country's highest sporting honour.
A thunderous applause greeted London Olympic heroes Vijay Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt as they jointly received the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, the country's highest sporting honour, at a glittering ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan on Thursday.
Bajrang Punia had won gold medals at the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games last year.
India captain Sardar Singh has been nominated by the Hockey India for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award.
Asian Games gold medallist Jitu Rai has been recommended for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award for his exploits in pistol shooting in the last two years although he couldn't win a medal in the Rio Olympics. "Yes, we have recommended Jitu's name for Khel Ratna award," National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) secretary Rajiv Bhatia said. NRAI has also recommended woman rifle shooter Apurvi Chanela and men rifle shooters Gurpreet Singh and PN Prakash for the Arjuna Awards, according to Bhatia.
Harbhajan's nomination for Khel Ratna award has been rejected by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) on grounds that his documents reached late.
Robbed of some sheen due to selection controversies this year, the National Sports Awards were presented to the country's top athletes and coaches with shooter Ronjan Sodhi getting the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna -- the country's highest sporting honour -- while cricketer Virat Kohli was among the Arjuna awardees.
The Cricket Board has recommended India's ODI and Twenty20 captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, the highest honour for any sportsperson in the country.
The 21-year-old cueist will be conferred the country's highest sporting honour.
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.
The Badminton Association of India (BAI) on Friday recommended Kidambi Srikanth for the Khel Ratna award after the top Indian shuttler apologised for pulling out of a tournament midway and show-caused his teammate H S Prannoy for slamming the federation after not being nominated for the Arjuna honour.
Rani Rampal led the team to historic victories in the Women's Asia Cup in 2017, silver at the 2018 Asian Games and played a critical role in the FIH Olympic Qualifiers in 2019 by scoring the deciding goal that helped India qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.
The list of 14 Arjuna award winners releases on Wednesday did not include a single men's cricketer.
Chess ace P Harikrishna and shuttler Chetan Anand were among 14 others to receive Arjuna awards.
BCCI wrote to the Union Sports Ministry recommending the names of Ganguly and his deputy Rahul Dravid for outstanding performance in 2004.
Anju Bobby George and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore were awarded the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and the Arjuna award respectively.
The Sports Ministry has confirmed that Wimbledon doubles champion Sania Mirza has been recommended for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna but made it clear that the final decision rests with only the Awards Committee.
It was a celebration of woman power in sports as Olympic stars PV Sindhu, Sakshi Malik and Dipa Karmakar were on Monday conferred India's highest sporting honour -- the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna -- along with shooter Jitu Rai in a gleaming awards ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi.
No sportsperson has been named for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna while 15, including cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin, were recommended for the Arjuna Award this year.
Chess champion Koneru Humpy has been nominated for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award
Last Thursday, the awards selection committee of Khel Ratna recommended para athlete and Rio Paralympics gold medallist Devendra Jhajharia for the prestigious award for 2017.
India's Test cricket captain Virat Kohli has been recommended for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, the nation's biggest sporting honour, by the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
Somdev Devvarman may have led a players' rebellion against the national tennis federation, but AITA has recommended him for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award for 2013.
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