M C Mary Kom, Vijender Singh and wrestler Sushil Kumar will be awarded with the India’s highest sporting award Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna for 2008-09. This is first time in the Indian history that three persons have been selected for Khel Ratna award.

Mary had won world championship for four times in women boxing while boxer Vijender and wrestler Sushil had won bronze medals in the Beijing Olympic.

Khel Ratna was shared by Leander Paes and N Kunjarani Devi in 1996-97 and in 2002-03 by Anjali Bhagwat and K M Beenamol. But this time, this prestigious award will be shared by three sportspersons as government was unable to ignore contribution of anyone of them in the Indian sports.

The Khel Ratna award winners will get a cash prize of 7.5 lakh and a citation. Meanwhile, Indian government has decided to increase amount of cash prize to 10 lakh for Khel Ratna award from next year.

Baldev Singh (hockey), Jaidev Bisht (boxing), Satpal (wrestling) and Pullela Gopichand (badminton) will be awarded Dronacharya award for their contribution in the Indian sports as a coach.  

Indian aggressive opener Gautam Gambhir, ace shuttler Saina Nehwal, shooter Ranjan Sodhi, veteran hockey player Ignace Tirkey and chess player Tania Sachdev will receive Arjuna awards along with 10 other players.