Reigning women's world rapid chess champion Koneru Humpy has been nominated for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award by the All India Chess Federation (AICF).
The 34-year old Humpy, currently ranked number three in the world, has qualified for the FIDE Women's Candidates event next year and was also part of the Indian squad which won the Online Chess Olympiad in 2020.
Humpy is already a recipient of the Arjuna award and Padma Shri.
Also, seven other players -- Vidit S Gujrathi, B Adhiban, S P Sethuraman, M R Lalith Babu, Bhakti Kulkarni and Padmini Rout have been nominated for the Arjuna award, AICF honorary secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan said.
The 26-year old Gujrathi was captain of the gold medal winning Indian team in the Online Chess Olympiad last year.
Besides, Grandmaster and noted coach Abhijit Kunte has been nominated for the Major Dhyanchand award.
B Sai Praneeth nominated for Khel Ratna with K Srikanth
Olympic-bound shuttler B Sai Praneeth and Kidambi Srikanth have been nominated for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award by the Badminton Association of India, which has also recommended three players for the Arjuna award.
Praneeth, who won a bronze medal at the 2019 World Championship, is the only men's singles shuttler to have qualified for the Tokyo Games.
Srikanth has been struggling of late but won four titles in 2017.
The Badminton Association of India (BAI) nominated HS Prannoy, Pranav Jerry Chopra and Sameer Verma for the Arjuna honour.
The federation also sent applications of S Muralidharan and PU Bhaskar Babu for the Dronacharya award.
Muralidharan is already a recipient of Dronacharya Life Time achievement award.
Leroy D'sa and PVV Lakshmi have been nominated for the Dhyanchand award.
