Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who blazed the shooting ranges at Athens to fetch the country's only Olympic medal, was on Wednesday expectedly selected for the country's highest sporting honour -- the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award -- for year 2004.
The 35-year-old Armyman created history by clinching the silver medal in the Athens Olympics, an effort which made him the second shooter to bag the coveted award in the last three years after Anjali Bhagwat jointly won it in 2002.
The list of awardees, announced by the government on Wednesday, did not include any cricketer, reflecting the Indian cricket team's dismal performances last year.
Teen tennis sensation Sania Mirza, golfer Jyoti Randhawa, athelets J J Shobha and Anil Kumar, hockey player Deepak Thakur and shooter Deepali Deshpande were among the prominent names in the list of 14 Arjuna Award winners for 2004.
Arvind Savur (Billiards), Sunita Sharma (Women's cricket) and Cyrus Poncha (Squash) were selected for the Dronacharya Awards 2004 while Manoj Kumar Kothari (Billiards and Snooker) Rajinder Singh Jr (Hockey) and Maruti Dnyanu Mane Patil (Wrestling) won the Dhyanchand Award 2005.
The awards would be given away by President A P J Abdul Kalam at a glittering function at the Rashtrapati Bhawan on Monday.
The awards, which have invariably generated controversies over the years, were finalised by an elite panel chaired by former world billiards champion Geet Sethi. However, the selections for Dronacharya Awards were made by a committee headed by G S Randhawa.
List of awardees
Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award -- Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (Shooting).
Dronacharya Awards: Arvind Savur (Billiards), Sunita Sharma (Cricket), Cyrus Poncha (Squash).
Arjuna Awards: J J Shobha (Athletics), Anil Kumar (Athletics), Jyoti Randhawa (Golf), Deep Ahlawat (Equestrian), Deepak Thakur (Hockey), Innocent Helen Mary (Hockey), Angom Anita Chanu (Judo), Sundar Singh (Kabaddi), J Krishnan (Rowing), Deepali Deshpande (Shooting), Achanta S Kamal (Table Tennis), Sania Mirza (Tennis), Anuj Kumar (Wrestling), Devendra (Athletics-Paralympics).
Dhyan Chand Award 2005: Manoj Kumar Kothari (Billiards & Snooker), Rajinder Singh Jr. (Hockey), Maruti Dnyanu Mane Patil (Wrestling).
Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
