Mary Kom, The name of six-time world winner has been recommended for the most prestigious Padma Vibhushan award, this is the first time that an athlete’s name has been put forward by the sports ministry for the most prominent award after Bharat Ratna.
Mary Kom was among nine recommended members list by the ministry for the Padma awards, and in another first, all the nine athletes this time around are women, the Times of India reported.
Badminton superstar P V Sindhu who was the first Indian to achieve the world championship in august this year was recommended by the sports ministry for Padma Bhushan, the country’s third-highest civilian award.
Mary Kom was felicitated with the Padma Bhushan in the year 2013 and Padma Shri in 2006. If she receives the Padma Vibhushan award, it would make her the fourth athlete to do so after chess wizard Viswanathan Anand in 2007, cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar in 2008 and mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary, who got the award posthumously in 2008.
Sindhu was ignored for the Padma Bhushan award in 2017 after her name was recommended by the sports ministry. She achieved the Padma Shri award in 2015.
There were seven other athletes recommended for the Padma Shri award. They are wrestler Vinesh Phogat, table tennis player Manika Batra, T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur, hockey skipper Rani Rampal, former shooter Suma Shirur and mountaineer twin sisters, Tashi and Nungshi Malik, according to TOI report.
The recommendations list have been sent to the Padma awards committee in the home ministry. The names of the awardees will be announced on the eve of the Republic Day next year.
