Department of Sports & Youth Services (DSYS), Government of Odisha today recommendaded the name of star woman sprinter Dutee Chand for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, the highest sporting honour of the country. Apart from Dutee, DSYS also sent five other recommendations to the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Government of India.

Olympic-bound Indian hockey team vice-captain Birendra Lakra and hockey coach Kalu Charan Choudhury were nominated for Arjuna Award and Dronacharya Award respectively, while former woman hurdler and Olympian Anuradha Biswal was named for Dhyan Chand Award.

DSYS also nominated KIIT Deemed University and Odisha Mining Corporation for Rashtriya Khel Prostahan Puraskar for identifying and nurturing budding talents in the region.

Dutee broke her own 100m National Record, clocking 11.7 seconds at the Indian Grand Prix-4 in Patiala last week, but missed the automatic Olympic qualification time by 0.02 seconds. She is, however, set to make it to the Tokyo Olympics on the basis of world rankings. She was conferred with the Arjuna Award last year.