Women’s hockey team captain Rani Rampal was today nominated the Hockey India (HI) for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, while men’s team drag-flick specialist Harmanpreet Singh was listed among the nominees for the Arjuna award.
The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, India’s highest sporting honour, is awarded according to the player’s achievements between a period of four years (In this case between January 1, 2016, and December 31, 2019).
To go by the laurels, Rani led her team to historic victories in the women’s Asia Cup in 2017, finished with a silver at the 2018 Asian Games and decided India’s fate by scoring the all-important goal against the USA in the Olympics qualifiers last year as India ground out a 6-5 aggregate win against the USA to book its ticket for Tokyo Olympics. Consequently, the team climbed to a career-best ninth in the FIH world rankings.
HI President Mohd Mustaque Ahmad was all praise for Rani: “Sardar Singh was the last hockey player to win the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award. Rani has set new benchmarks in women’s hockey and we feel she is very deserving of the top award.” Men’s team player Harmanpreet Singh ran the show as the ‘Men in Blue’ finished atop the podium in the 2018-19 FIH Series Finals in Odisha. — TNS
