Sania Mirza
Her maiden women's doubles Grand Slam title at Wimbledon earlier this year and two other doubles titles prior to her win with Martina Hingis has established Sania Mirza as the most dominant female Indian athlete in the country. She is currently at a career-best No 1 WTA rank in doubles, the first Indian female to achieve the feat. Sania, who is set to receive the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna for her exploits in women's tennis, is only the second Indian tennis player after Leander Paes to be named for country's top sporting honour. Paes had been bestowed the honour way back in 1996 after his bronze medal in the Atlanta Olympics. The 28-year-old, who has won three mixed doubles Grand Slams in her career, beat competition from squash player Deepika Pallikal, discus thrower Vikas Gowda, track and field star Tintu Luka, rising shuttler P V Sindhu, and hockey captain Sardar Singh for the coveted award. Along with Martina Hingis she would go on to win 41 consecutive matches as they also clinched the 2016 Australian Open.
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