Rising badminton player P V Sindhu, who became the first Indian woman shuttler to clinch a bronze medal at the recently-concluded World Championships, was also in the list of 15 chosen players for the Arjuna award, sources told PTI.
Apart from Sindhu, triple-jumper Renjith Maheshwary, who won a bronze medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games with a national record, and rising golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar were also picked for the Arjuna award this year by the selection committee headed by billiards legend Michael Ferreira.
Sodhi, who had a disastrous outing at the London Olympics last year, is a former world number one. He was a double trap gold-medallist at last year's Asian Games, besides being a silver-medallist at the Commonwealth Games.
Once his name is ratified by the Sports Ministry, the 33-year-old, who was conferred the Arjuna award in 2009, will become the seventh shooter to be honoured with the Khel Ratna.
Interestingly, it is for the third consecutive year that a Khel Ratna award has gone to a shooter. Gagan Narang had been presented the award in 2011, followed by Vijay Kumar last year.