• National Sports Awards 2020 nominations have been made, though deadline extension could see more names being added
• Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ishant Sharma and Deepti Sharma are the names to have bee recommended from cricket
• Neeraj Chopra, Manika Batra are some of the names to have been recommended for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award

Though the past couple of months or so have barred fans from all sort of sporting action, the last 12 months or so have seen some tremendous performances from athletes in various sports. From cricket to Table Tennis, the Indian sporting fraternity has witnessed some outstanding performances on the field in this period. 

Highlighting some of them, various sporting bodies have sent their recommendations for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award and Arjuna Award for the National Sports Awards 2020. Here's the full list:

Khel Ratna Award:

• Neeraj Chopra (Javelin Throw)
• Amit Panghal (Boxing)
• Vikas Krishan (Boxing)
• Rohit Sharma (Cricket)
• Rani Rampal (Hockey)
• Manika Batra (Table Tennis)
• Vinesh Phogat (Wrestling)

Arjuna Award:

• Dutee Chand (Athletics)
• Arpinder Singh (Athletics)
• Manjit Singh (Athletics)
• PU Chitra (Athletics)
• Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty (Badminton)
• Sameer Verma (Badminton)
• Manish Kaushik (Boxing)
• Lovlina Borgohain (Boxing)
• Simranjit Kaur (Boxing)
• Shikhar Dhawan (Cricket)
• Ishant Sharma (Cricket)
• Deepti Sharma (Cricket)
• Vandana Kataria (Hockey)
• Monika (Hockey)
• Harmanpret Singh (Hockey)
• Saurabh Chaudhary (Shooting) 
• Abhishek Verma (Shooting)
• Manu Bhaker (Shooting)
• Elavenil Valarivan (Shooting)
• Suthirtha Mukherjee (Table Tennis)
• Madhurika Patkar (Table Tennis)
• Manav Thakkar (Table Tennis)
• Mirabai Chanu (Weightlifting)
• Ragala Venkat Rahul (Weightlifting)
• Poonam Yadav (Weightlifting)
• Sakshi Malik (Wrestling)
• Deepak Punia (Wrestling)
• Rahul Aware (Wrestling)
• Sandeep Tomar (Wrestling)
• Naveen (Wrestling)

NOTE: With the deadline extended, more names are likely to be added in the list.

National Sports Awards 2020 Nominations Deadline Extended:

In the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic, the Sports Ministry of India has extended the deadline by which the nominations are to be filed while also allowing individuals to do self-nominations due to the challenges they are facing amid country-wide lockdown.

 “…it has been decided to do away with the condition of submitting only with the recommendations of the authorities/persons prescribed in the awards scheme.” 

“…the part of the application form requiring the recommendation of the prescribed authorities/persons may be left blank,” it added.

Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju had explained that the said changes are required in order for the ministry to be far to each athlete keeping the ongoing situation in mind.