The 22-year-old Bhaker became independent India's first athlete to win two medals in a single edition of the Olympics with her bronze-winning show in the 10m air pistol individual and 10m air pistol mixed team events in August last year.
Double Olympic medallist shooter Manu Bhaker and chess world champion D Gukesh are among the four athletes finalised for the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award, the Sports Ministry announced on Thursday.
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Five badminton players have been conferred the Khel Ratna so far; Pullela Gopichand (2001), Saina Nehwal (2010), PV Sindhu (2016), Pramod Bhagat (2021) and Krishna Nagar (2021).
The two had an incredible year, making it to as many as six finals and taking home five victories.
Rohit Sharma has become just the fourth cricketer to win the prestigious award after Sachin Tendulkar (1997-98), MS Dhoni (2007) and Virat Kohli (2018).
According to sources, the National Award Committee met in the Capital on Tuesday and named the five athletes for the prestigious Khel Ratna award.
Former World No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy had left the squad at Asian Badminton Championship in Manila in February, despite being advised not to.
Notably, the 25-year-old had failed to collect the award on National Sports Day at the Rashtrapati Bhavan from President Ram Nath Kovind earlier this year.
Apart from Harbhajan, sprinter Dutee Chand's nomination for an Arjuna Award was rejected by the Sports Ministry due to similar reasons.
