Sporting fraternity welcomes PM Narendra Modi's decision to rename Khel Ratna, Olympic winner Vijender Singh leaves suggestions for govt

India's only athletics medal winner in World Championships, Anju Bobby George, who won the Khel Ratna in 2003, said sports awards should be named after sportspersons.

New Delhi: India's sporting fraternity on Friday welcomed the renaming of the Khel Ratna in the honour of hockey wizard Major Dhyan Chand, saying that it is only befitting that the country's highest sporting honour is named after one of its greatest.  Dhyan Chand is widely regarded as the greatest player in hockey. In his career that spanned from 1926 to 1949, he clinched Olympic medals in 1928, 1932 and 1936. The country's National Sports Day is also celebrated to commemorate his birth anniversary on August 29. India's only athletics medal winner in World Championships, Anju Bobby George, who won the Khel Ratna in 2003, said sports awards should be named after sportspersons.