Virat Kohli, Mirabai Chanu recommended for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award

New Delhi: Indian cricket Virat Kohli and world champion weightlifter Mirabai Chanu are recommended for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, the nation's highest sporting honour.

Once the sports ministry accepts the committee's recommendation, Kohli will become the third Indian cricketer after legendary cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni.

The 29-year-old batsman currently has 6147 runs in 71 Tests with 23 centuries and 9779 runs in 211 ODIs, including 35 tons.

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It is learnt that India’s top male shuttler Kidambi Srikanth was in contention for his good show in the Super Series Circuit last year but lost out to the 24-year-old Chanu, who is the reigning world champion in the 48kg category with a world record to boot.

It is to be mentioned that Virat Kohli is one of the rarest sportsmen who has received Padma Shri before Khel Ratna.

It is worth mentioning that The BCCI (Board for Cricket Council in India) has been nominating Kohli for the Khel Ratna for the past three years but in 2016, it was given to Sakshi Malik, PV Sindhu and Deepa Karmakar for their good show at the Rio Olympic Games.

It could be said that the award for Chanu comes as a massive morale-booster as she is currently recovering from a lower back injury. Due to which she skipped the asian games.