19 athletes nominated for Arjuna Award: All you need to know
A total of 19 athletes from different disciplines have been nominated for the Arjuna Award.
A list of 19 sportspersons has been included among the nominations of the prestigious Arjuna Award on Saturday. Players across 17 sporting disciplines were nominated with athletics having two players' name added to the list. Paralympics silver medallist Deepa Malik was on Saturday nominated for the country's highest sporting honour -- the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award -- along with Asian and Commonwealth Games champion wrestler Bajrang Punia. Para-athlete Deepa Malik's name nominated for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award 2019, alongside Bajrang Punia's name. The name of 48-year-old Deepa, who won a silver in the shot put F53 category in the 2016 Rio Paralympics, was added for the Khel Ratna by a 12-member selection committee on the second day of the two-day meeting. List of athletes nominated for Arjuna Award 2019 The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had recommended fast bowlers Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and women's team leg-spinner Poonam Yadav for the Arjuna Award. The Arjuna Awards are given to honour excellence in sports by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in India. Notably, in 2018, women's cricket team star opener Smriti Mandhana was the only cricketer to receive the prestigious award.