Team India's cricket captain Rahul Dravid, who lost the race for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna to cueist Pankaj Advani last year, has been recommended
again for country's highest sports honour.
BCCI has also recommended middle order batsman Yuvraj
Singh and former women's team captain Anjum Chopra for Arjuna
awards.
It is worth mentioning here that the Khel Ratna is awarded for the most
spectacular and outstanding performance and it carries a cash award of Rs. five
lakh.
Arjuna Award, bestowed for good performance consistently for
previous three years, carries a cash award of Rs. three lakh.
Dravid (34) has been the Indian team's backbone for years now,
averaging 57.46 with 9366 runs including 24 centuries in the Test arena. He
also aggregates 10,189 runs in ODIs.
Woman boxer Mary Kom and tennis Grand Slam winner Mahesh Bhupathi
are the other sportsmen who have been recommended for the Khel Ratna this year.
Sachin Tendulkar is the only cricketer who has been bestowed the honour
so far.
Dravid played a pivotal role in India's historic Test win against
Australia in Adelaide in 2003-04 and also shared a marathon partnership
with VVS Laxman in the 2001 Kolkata Test against Australia.
Yuvraj, 25, has emerged as a reliable player in the Indian
line up since making a memorable debut against World Champions Australia in
2000.
Anjum, a left-handed batter from Delhi, played in 12 Tests
and scored 548 runs. She also featured in 105 ODIs scoring 2465 runs
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