Hours before Thursday's deadline for nominations, world champion M C Mary Kom was recommended for this year's Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna -- the country's highest sporting honour.
The light-flyweight pugilist, who has a record of three straight world titles to her name, filed her application with the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation and the IABF forwarded the same to the Sports Ministry just before the deadline, IABF Executive Director Colonel A S Dagar said.
"She (Mary) called us up this morning to inform that she would be sending her application and we received a fax from her by evening," Col Dagar said.
"We have recommended her name for the Khel Ratna to the Sports Ministry just hours before the end of the deadline," he added.
Asked about the last-minute submission, Col Dagar said Mary Kom had sent a letter to the federation saying that she was unaware of the formalities required for submission of her name.
"We received a letter from her in which she stated that since she is staying in a remote area of Manipur, she was not aware of the whole process and came to know about it very late," he revealed.
Col Dagar had on Wednesday said that the federation could not recommend the Manipuri boxer for the award since she had not completed the required formalities.
The IABF has recommended four boxers for the Arjuna award and two coaches for the Dronacharya award.
Mary Kom was last year awarded the 'Padma Shree' after she won two consecutive world titles.
