A moment to celebrate: For the first time in the history of Indian sports, the name of a woman athlete has been recommended for the prestigious Padma Vibhushan award by the sports ministry. And she is none other than six-time world champion boxer Mary Kom.
Padma Vibhushan award is the second-highest civilian honor after the Bharat Ratna.
Along with Mary Kom, our other favorite badminton world champion,  PV Sindhu, has been recommended for the Padma Bhushan, the country’s third-highest civilian award.
Read: PV Sindhu’s Father Sacrifice: From Waking Up At 3-AM To Massaging Her Tired Feet
Earlier, Mary Kom has been honored with the Padma Bhushan in 2013 and Padma Shri in 2006. And, Sindhu has received the Padma Shri in 2015.
Read: Mary Kom’s Message On Passion & Self-Respect Is A Must Read For All Strong Women
But, there is another reason to celebrate too.
All the nine athletes recommended for Padma Awards by the ministry are women.Â
As per TOI, the other seven athletes – wrestler Vinesh Phogat, table tennis star Manika Batra, T20I skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, hockey captain Rani Rampal, former shooter Suma Shirur and mountaineer twin sisters, Tashi and Nungshi Malik have been recommended for the Padma Shri.
The recommendations have been sent to the Padma awards committee and the names of the awardees will be announced on the Republic Day next year.
Nevertheless, at I For Her we are celebrating these great athletes as they have inspired millions of young women to take up sports and shatter glass ceilings!
We wish them luck for their future endeavors and hope they will keep inspiring us!
