NEW DELHI: Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli was among the eight sportspersons who were picked for the prestigious Padma Shri, the country’s fourth highest civilian award.

Besides Kohli, the seven other sportspersons named for the award are Rio Olympics bronze medallist wrestler Sakshi Malik, Paralympians Mariyappan Thangavelu and Deepa Malik, gymnast Dipa Karmakar, Indian hockey captain P R Sreejesh, discus thrower Vikas Gowda and blind cricket team captain Shekar Naik.

Kohli recently took over as the captain of the Indian cricket team in all the three formats of the game after Mahendra Singh Dhoni stepped down as skipper of the limited-overs side. The prolific batsman is among the most feared batsmen in world cricket right now. Sakshi Malik won a bronze in the women’s 58kg wrestling while Thangavelu and Deepa Malik bagged a gold and silver in the men’s high jump T-42 and women’s shot put F53 categories respectively at the Rio Paralympics. Dipa Karmakar finished fourth in women’s vault gymnastic event in Rio Olympics while Sreejesh was the captain of the Indian hockey side that reached the quarterfinals. Gowda, the reigning Commonwealth and Asian champion, failed to advance beyond the qualifying round in men’s discus throw in Rio. The eight sportspersons were among 89 Padma Awardees announced by the government on the eve of the Republic Day. There were no sportspersons in the list of Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan awardees. There were 75 names in the list of Padma Shri recipients.—PTI