The Badminton Association of India (BAI) has recommended the names of Kidambi Srikanth and Sai Praneeth for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award. For Arjuna Award, BAI has put forward the names of HS Prannoy, Pranav Jerry Chopra, and Sameer Verma. "This time we have given two names (Kidambi Srikanth and Sai Praneeth) for the Khel Ratna award and for Arjuna Award, we have recommended HS Prannoy, Pranav Jerry Chopra and Sameer Verma," sources within BAI told ANI.
The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports had earlier decided to extend the last date of submission of application for the upcoming National Sports Awards 2021.
Earlier, the last date for submitting applications was June 21. The nominations/applications from the eligible sportspersons/ coaches/ entities/ universities were invited for the award and they were to be e-mailed as per an official statement from the ministry.
Manika Batra, Rohit Sharma, Vinesh Phogat, Rani Rampal, and Mariyappan Phangavelu were awarded the Khel Ratna Award last year and it was the first time that five athletes received the honour in the same year.