The year 2020 is going to be a historic one in the life of many young girls who are training hard in the field of sports and making their country proud. In a first in the history of Indian sports, nine-woman athletes are nominated by the Sports Ministry for the upcoming Padma Award.
The recommendations have been sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs. The names of the awardees will be announced on the eve of the Republic Day next year. These nominated nine-woman athletes will share the stage of Padma Awards 2020.
Nominations for Padma Awards
Mary Kom, a six-time world boxing champion, was previously awarded the Padma Shri in 2006 and the Padma Bhushan in 2013. This year has been recommended for Padma Vibhushan by the sports minister.
World Champion PV Sindhu has been recommended for Padma Bhushan by the ministry this year. She had been earlier recommended for this award in 2017.
Vinesh Phogat
Vinesh Phogat one of the many iconic Indian wrestlers, is also nominated for Padma Shri. Phogat is the first Indian woman wrestler to bag Gold in both Commonwealth and Asian Games and the first Indian athlete to get nominated for Laureus World Sports Awards.
Manika Batra
Manika Batra, the Indian Table tennis star with 47th world ranking has also been nominated by the ministry for Padma Shri. Batra led the Indian women’s team to a gold medal historic win in the final against Singapore at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia.
Harmanpreet Kaur
Harmanpreet Kaur 30-year old T20I skipper and Arjuna Awardee has also been nominated for Padma Shri. She is the first Indian woman to score a century in a Women’s Twenty20 International (WT20I) match in November 2018.
Rani Rampal
Women’s Hockey team captain Rani Rampal is also on the list of Padma Shri recommendations. At the age of 15, she was the youngest player in the national team which participated in the 2010 World Cup. Her team bagged silver in the 2018 Asian Games held in Jakarta.
Suma Shirur
Former Indian shooter, Suma Shirur won Gold in the Commonwealth Games 2002 in the 10m air rifle event. Her name is nominated for Padma Shri by the ministry to honor her contributions to the game.
Tashi and Nungshi Malik
Twin Sisters Tashi and Nungshi Malik are the first of their kind to climb the Seven Summits and reach the North and South Poles and complete the Adventurers Grand Slam and Three Poles Challenge. As the first female twins to climb Mount Everest, they have also made it to the Padma list.
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