New Delhi: Rio Olympic stars PV Sindhu, Sakshi Malik, Dipa Karmakar and Jitu Rai were today conferred the country’s highest sports honour ‘Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award’ for 2016 at a glittering ceremony here. Ms Sindhu got the honour for her performance in Badminton in which she won a Silver medal at the just concluded Olympic Games in Rio. Ms Malik got Bronze in wrestling while Mr Jitu Rai finished fourth in Shooting.
Dipa Karmakar, who came fourth in gymnastics, was the first Indian woman to represent the country in this event at Olympics. She missed the medal by a whisker. The ceremony was attended by Sports Minister Vijay Goel and a number of other senior ministers and distinguished figures. President Pranab Mukherjee also conferred the Dronacharya Award on six coaches and Arjun Awards on 15 sportspersons for 2015-16. (UNI)