Gagan Narang to be conferred Khel Ratna

Ace shooter Gagan Narang will be conferred the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award by President Pratibha Patil on August 29 as the government officially announced the list of awardees today.

The names of the sportspersons to be conferred Arjuna, Dhyan Chand and Dronacharya Awards for the year 2011 were also announced today though the list of the recipients was already out last month.

Ace Indian shooter Gagan Narang, who notched up four gold medals at last year's Commonwealth Games, will receive the country's highest sporting honour -- the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna -- from the President at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

The 28-year-old rifle shooter, who was the first Indian marksman to qualify for next year's London Olympics with a bronze in the World Championships last year, had been disgruntled at being "ignored" for the award last year.

Nineteen sportspersons -- Zaheer Khan (Cricket), Rahul Banerjee (Archery), Preeja Sreedharan (Athletics), Vikas Gowda (Athletics), Jwala Gutta (Badminton), Suranjoy Singh (Boxing), Sunil Chhetri (Football), Rajpal Singh (Hockey), Virdhawal Khade (Swimming), Tejaswini Sawant (Shooting), Ashish Kumar (Gymnastics), Somdev Devvarman (Tennis), Ravinder Singh (Wrestling), Ravi Kumar (Weightlifting), Sandhya Rani (Wushu), Prasanta Karmakar (Swimming), Sanjay Kumar (Volleyball), Rakesh Kumar (Kabaddi) and Tejaswini (Kabaddi) -- have been chosen for the Arjuna Awards.

Normally not more than 15 Arjuna awards are given in a calendar year. But the scheme of Arjuna Awards also provides that keeping in view the performance of Indian sportspersons in the Commonwealth, Asian Games and Olympic Games during a particular year, the awards exceeding 15 in number may be allowed with proper justification and approval of the Sports Ministry.