The Sports ministry has recommended Indian badminton star P V Sindhu for the prestigious Padma Bhushan, the nation's third highest civilian award, for his contribution to the game.
The nomination comes just a few days after Olympic silver-medallist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore replaced Vijay Goel as new Sports Minister.
Sindhu, who recently got stunned by Nozomi Okuhara in the pre-quarterfinals of the Japan Open Super Series, made the country proud at the Rio Olympics by bagging the silver medal. She narrowly lost to Spanish shuttler Carolina Marin.
Recently, Sindhu also took a sweet avenge of her World Championship final defeat to Okuhara by beating her in the summit showdown of the Korea Open. She became the first Indian to win the Korea Super Series title.
The world number four, who had also won the China Super Series Premier last year and clinched the India Super Series and Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold this season, had to settle for the bronze medal at the World Badminton Championship after going down against Okuhara 19-21, 22-20, 20-22 in the finals in Glasgow.
Earlier, former Indian skipper and World Cup winning captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was nominated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for the coveted gong.