Dravid's name sent for Khel Ratna

New Delhi: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has recommended the name of Indian captain Rahul Dravid for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, the country's highest sporting honour, for the year 2005-06.

The Board has also put forward the names of paceman Irfan Pathan and left-hand batsman Yuvraj Singh for the Arjuna Award for the same year, BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah said on Monday.

The Khel Ratna was started in 1991 and Sachin Tendulkar is the only cricketer so far to have received the honour (1997-98).

Dravid, who took over captaincy from Sourav Ganguly last year, is currently regarded as one of the finest batsmen and has been in the top three in the ICC Test batting rankings for quite some time.

Pathan has emerged as India's pace spearhead and had a creditable performance in the period under review while Yuvraj has also been one of the consistent performers for the Indian team, particularly in the One-Dayers.

The President confers the awards at a glittering function at Rashtrapati Bhawan on August 29 every year. The award carries a scroll of honour and a purse of Rs 5 lakh.

Chess Grandmaster Vishwanathan Anand was the first recipient of the prestigious award. Geet Sethi, Karnam Malleswari, Dhanraj Pillay, Pullela Gopichand, Anju Bobby George and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore are among the sportspersons who have received the honour.

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