Hockey India Nominates Women’s Team Captain Rani Rampal For Khel Ratna Award

Hockey India on Tuesday nominated national women’s crew captain Rani for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award even though Vandana Kataria, Monika, and Harmanpreet Singh ended up proposed for the Arjuna Award. For the Major Dhyan Chand Award for life span achievement, the federation has proposed previous India stalwarts RP Singh and Tushar Khandker. Coaches BJ Kariappa and Romesh Pathania have been nominated for the Dronacharya Award. The period of thing to consider for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, India’s best sporting honour, is in between January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2019.

For the duration of this period, Rani led the crew to historic victories in the Women’s Asia Cup in 2017, silver at the 2018 Asian Video games, and played a significant role in the FIH Olympic Qualifiers in 2019 by scoring the choosing intention that aided India qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.

The crew also climbed to a vocation-very best ninth in the FIH planet rankings. Rani, who is the very first Indian to be named as the Earth Video games Athlete of The Calendar year, has also been the recipient of the Arjuna Award (2016) and Padma Shri (2020).

India striker Vandana, with about two hundred intercontinental caps, and Monika, with a lot more than 150 national appearances, have been proposed for the Arjuna Award.

They both equally played important roles in the team’s sensational wins in 2019 such as the FIH Series Finals in Hiroshima, Tokyo 2020 Olympics Test Celebration, and the Olympic Qualifiers in Bhubaneswar.

The Indian men’s crew drag-flick professional, Harmanpreet Singh, is also in the shorter-list for the Arjuna nominees.

He was instrumental in the team’s winning efficiency in the FIH Series Finals in Odisha.
At the 2020 Olympics Test Celebration, he captained the crew to victory in the absence of Manpreet Singh who was rested for the match.

Harmanpreet was also a portion of the Indian crew that won the Olympic Qualifiers against Russia last year.

Previous India stars Dr RP Singh and Khandker’s continued contribution in the field of hockey has led to their advice for the Major Dhyan Chand Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Kariappa, who has been nominated for the Dronacharya Award, has coached the Indian junior men’s crew to a silver at the Sultan of Johor Cup in 2019.

Speaking on the recommendations for the Nationwide Awards, Hockey India President Mohd Mustaque Ahmad reported: “Sardar Singh was the last hockey participant to gain the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award. “Rani has established new benchmarks in women’s hockey and we truly feel she is pretty deserving of the prime award.”

A panel shaped by the Sports Ministry will shortlist the nominations acquired from numerous national federations with the awards to be presented on Nationwide Sports Day, August 29.