Virender Sehwag, PT Usha named in Khel Ratna, Arjuna Award committee

NEW DELHI: Former India opener Virender Sehwag has been named in the committee which will decide on this year's Khel Ratna and Arjuna awardees while celebrated badminton coach P Gopichand will chair the committee which will recommend the Dronacharya and Dhyan Chand award winners.

The Arjuna Award Committee will be headed by Justice (retd) C K Thakkar and will meet on August 3 to select this year's awardees.

This committee has P T Usha (athlete) Mukund Killekar (boxing), Sunil Dabbas (Kabaddi), M R Mishra (Journalist), S Kannan (Journalist), Sanjeev Kumar (Journalist), Latha Madhvi (Para athlete), Anil Khanna (sports administrator), Injeti Srinivas (DG, SAI) and Rajvir Singh (joint Secretary, Sports Ministry) as the other members.

The Gopichand-led Dronacharya and Dhyan Chand Awards Committee has 10 members including ace cueist Pankaj Advani.

The other members are: Gopal Saini (athletics), M K Kaushik (Hockey) and Virendra Poonia (Athletics), Maha Singh Rao (Wrestling), Noris Pritam (Journalist), Rajinder Sejwan (Journalist), B V P Rao (Administrator).

The two Ex-officio Members are: Director General (SAI) and Joint Secretary (Sports Development).