Cricketers Ishant Sharma, Deepti Sharma And Deepak Hooda Among 29 Nominated For Arjuna Award

Three Indian cricketers have received a nomination for the Arjuna Award as done by the Sports Ministry’s selection committee. The three cricketers included are Ishant Sharma and Deepak Hooda, and Deepti Sharma and are amongst the 29 sportspersons to be on the list. The rest of the sportspeople comprise from other fields like Hockey, Wrestling, Weightlifting, arching, and tennis.

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Male recurve archer Atanu Das, women’s hockey athlete Deepika Thakur and tennis player Divij Sharan are also the contenders of the award, as told by an official of the PTI after the selection committee’s meeting. The meeting took place in India’s capital, New Delhi.

Furthermore, Olympic bronze-winning wrestler Sakshi Malik and champion weightlifter Mirabai Chanu are in the mix too. However, the final decision lies on the Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju as the elusive pair are former Khel Ratna award winners as well.

Sakshi Malik won the award in 2016 for her Olympic bronze in the Rio Olympics. On the other hand, Mirabai Chinu received the honour in 2018 alongside Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli for her world championship gold medal.

Ishant Sharma also received the nomination for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award:

Earlier in the day, Ishant Sharma got nominated for the Rajiv Khel Ratna Award as well alongside limited-overs vice-captain, Rohit Sharma. Ishant Sharma is one of the most improved fast bowlers in the last three years or so. So far, he has 297 scalps in 97 Tests, playing an integral role in some crushing Test wins. He is 31 right now and admittedly has a few more fruitful years to follow.

Rohit Sharma has developed himself as one of the best batsmen today across formats. Rohit’s gameplay has drastically elevated to the next level after his promotion to the top-order. The 33-year old has scored 7000 out of his 9000 ODI runs while batting at the top. The Khel Ratna Award is the highest sporting honour in the nation for which paddler Manika Batra and Rio Paralympic gold-winning high jumper Mariappan Thangavelu have also received nominations.

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