Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday announced that the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award is being renamed as Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award “respecting the sentiments of citizens across the country “The Khel Ratna Award is the highest sporting honor in the nation.
“I have been getting many requests from citizens across India to name Khel Ratna award after Major Dhyan Chand. I thank them for their views. Respecting their sentiment, the Khel Ratna award will here be called Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award! Jia Hind!” Prime Minister Modi tweeted.
The Khel Ratna Award was introduced in the year 1991-1992 and the first one to receive a sports honor award is the Chess legend, Viswanathan Anand. The other famous sportsperson who received this award were Leander Paes, Sachin Tendulkar, Dhanraj Pillay, Pullela Gopichand, Abhinav Bindra, Anju Booby George, Mary Kom, and Rani Rampal in 2020.
This highest honor sports award is now being renamed the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award. It has given with cash prize of 25 lakhs. Major Dhyan Chand is a former Indian hockey player who is known as the wizard. He played international hockey from the year 1926 to 1949. He scored over 400 goals in his hockey career. The hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand was born in Allahabad. He was part of the Olympic team that won gold medals in the year 1928, 1932, and 1936.
There is another prestigious award other than the Khel Ratna award is Dhyan Chand Award which is given to lifetime achievements in sports. It was first introduced in the year 2002. It was in the same year the National Stadium in New Delhi is also renamed as Dhyan Chand National Stadium.
