India's two Olympic medallists at Rio 2016, PV Sindhu and Sakshi Malik, along with two other Olympians, Dipa Karmakar and Jitu Rai, will be conferred with the Khel Ratna, according to reports. The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna is India's highest sporting honour.
Shuttler Sindhu, who became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic silver medal, and gymnast Karmakar were greeted with a rousing reception when they arrived in India on Monday. Sindhu, who hails from Hyderabad, will also get cash prizes of Rs 3 crore from the Andhra Pradesh government and Rs 1 crore from Telangana.
Malik won the bronze medal in the 58 kg freestyle wrestling category, beating her opponent, Kyrgyzstan's Aisuluu Tynybekova, 8-5 after being 0-5 down after the first period. After winning the medal, the Haryana government announced a cash prize of Rs 2.5 crore for her.
Karamakar narrowly missed out on a bronze medal at the Rio Olympics, finishing fourth in the vault final with 15.066 points. Rai reached the 10 m air pistol final, living up to his billing as one of the top shooters in the world.
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