Context: Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award will now be known as the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. This was being done for "respecting the sentiments of citizens across the country”.

Key Points

• The renaming of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award comes in the week when hockey has returned to the limelight, thanks to the exceptional performances by the Indian men's and women's hockey teams at the Tokyo Olympics.
• The men's team won their first Olympic hockey medal in 41 years, a bronze, and the women's team put forth its best-ever performance in the Games, finishing a creditable fourth.
• 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.

About Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award

• This award was instituted in 1991-92.
• Chess Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand was the first recipient of this award.
• The winner of the Khel Ratna Award gets a reward of 7.5 lac rupees. 
• This award is given annually to those sportspersons who make the country proud at international events.
• The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award can be given a maximum of three persons in a year. 
• But, this is the only second time that the names of 4 athletes have been recommended for the award. 
• In 2016, shuttler P V Sindhu, gymnast Dipa Karmakar, shooter Jitu Rai, and wrestler Sakshi Malik had received this award.

About National Sports Awards

• The National Sports Awards include the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, the Arjuna Award, Dronacharya Award and the Dhyan Chand Award, which are conferred every year by the President of India at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on August 29. 
• The National Sports Day is celebrated on August 29, the birth anniversary of hockey wizard Dhyan Chand.