---
title: "Who is the first recipient of Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award?"  
description: "Who is the first recipient of Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award?"  
author: "samay srivastava"  
published: 2018-02-27  
canonical: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/35059/who-is-the-first-recipient-of-rajiv-gandhi-khel-ratna-award  
category: "sports"  
reading_time: 1 minute  

---

# Who is the first recipient of Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award?

## Answers

### Answer by Vishal Kesarwani

![Who is the first recipient of Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award?](https://answers.mindstick.com/QuestionAnswer/4e834e81-8187-4d60-b971-5df58f7b5278/images/a27a353b-9f22-46c2-8741-dc982a228f8f.png)\

**Viswanathan Annand was the first recipient of Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 1991-1992.** Born on 11th December in the year 1969 Viswanathan is an exceptional chess player of our nation. **Anand became India’s grandmaster in the year 1988 and he also held the FIDE World Chess Championship and became the first person in the whole Asia.**

![Who is the first recipient of Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award?](https://answers.mindstick.com/QuestionAnswer/4e834e81-8187-4d60-b971-5df58f7b5278/images/f3952f28-951f-4822-8b71-d355b935fc9c.png)\

**After becoming the undisputed [World](https://www.mindstick.com/news/2334/what-would-occur-if-the-world-were-to-divide-in-half) [Champion](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/101351/who-s-the-reigning-wwe-intercontinental-champion) in the year 2007 and later he defended his title in the year 2008 and also in the chess [championship held](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/48163/when-and-where-was-the-first-world-cup-championship-held) in the year 2010.** He is the only [player](https://yourviews.mindstick.com/view/30459/world-cup-2019-who-will-be-the-player-of-the-tournament) in our [country](https://www.mindstick.com/news/2337/vikram-s-the-country-s-first-privately-developed-rocket-will-launch-on-november-15) to win the World [Rapid Chess](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/39152/which-indian-chess-master-has-clinched-the-2018-tal-memorial-rapid-chess-tournament-in-moscow) Championship in the year 2003 and 2017. He made a record for holding the first rank for 21 months which is the sixth longest queue in the world. \
**For his amazing contribution toward Chess [Government](https://www.mindstick.com/news/1911/upi-transaction-would-cost-zero-service-charges-clarifies-government) of [India](https://www.mindstick.com/articles/336618/top-10-electric-bicycles-in-india-in-2024-to-improve-your-health) honored him with India’s second most reputed [civilian award](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/40066/name-the-topmost-civilian-award-in-america) Padma Vibhusan in the year 2007 and was the first sportsperson achieve such milestone.**


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