Shooter Gagan Narang recommended for Khel Ratna

Zeecric Bureau

New Delhi: In what could be great news to shooters and cricketers, the selection panel on Friday recommended Gagan Narang’s name for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award 2011. Narang won four gold medals at the Commonwealth Games 2010 and the Sports Ministry is going to take a final call based on the recommendation. Cricketer Zaheer Khan’s name has been nominated for the Arjuna Award by the same selection panel. Apart from Zaheer, tennis star Somdev Devvarman, archer Rahul Banerjee, shooter Tejaswini Sawant, athlete Preeja Sreedharan, Ravi Kumar Katulu (Weightlifting), Jwala Gutta (Badminton), Tejaswini Bai (Kabaddi), Rakesh Kumar (Kabaddi), footballer Sunil Chettri, hockey player Rajpal Singh, boxer Suranjoy Singh, Sandhyarani (Ushu), Prashant Karmakar (Disabled Sports) and gymnast Ashish Kumar have also been recommended for the Arjuna Award.Former international wrestler, Satpal Singh, heads the panel that will finalise the names of sportspersons for the Dronacharya, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and Arjuna Awards.Last year, badminton ace Saina Nehwal was conferred the Khel Ratna Award, the highest award for sportspersons in India.