Sania Mirza in contention to win Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award

sania mirzaSania Mirza’s great run in the year 2015 just seems to be getting better and better as the tennis ace, in all likelihood, is set to win the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna for the year 2014-15.

Her brilliant performance in the Wimbledon where she won the Grand Slam doubles title alongside Martina Hingis will not be taken into consideration but her consistency and year-round performance makes her the hot favourite to win the award.

Apart from winning the doubles title in Wimbledon, Sania also came good in mixed doubles with Saketh Myneni to win gold in Asian Games and bronze in women’s doubles with Prarthana Thombare at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games. To go with this, Sania also won the US Open mixed doubles title with Bruno Soares last year.

According to a report in Hindustan Times, the Sports Ministry took the decision to include Sania’s name to the awards committee on Friday and a final list will be out shortly when the panel decides to meet.

This happened after the All India Tennis Association (AITA) missed the deadline for sending the application by over two months. The last date of nominations was 30th April or the last working day in the month of April.

But the ministry was in their rights to use clause 5.3 under the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award Scheme to nominate Sania. The rule says, “The government reserves the right to nominate up to two sportspersons in deserving cases where no such nominations have been received from the agencies mentioned under the Scheme.”

Other names in the running for the award include Vikas Gowda (discus), Tintu Luka (800m), Dipika Pallikal (squash), Devendra Jhajhariya (paralympic javelin), Sardar Singh (hockey) and Abhishek Verma (archery).

Share