Chandigarh, March 3 (IANS): Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has approved names of 82 sportspersons to be conferred the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Award, the state's highest sports honour.

He also approved the proposal to include 12 Padma Shri, Arjuna and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awardees from the state in this list, according to an official statement here on Sunday.

The decision, taken by the Chief Minister while chairing the Award Apex Committee meeting on Saturday, would clear the last eight years' backlog.

The award carries cash prize of Rs 2 lakh along with a trophy of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

Singh also asked state Sports Minister Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi to thrash out the modalities for setting up a sports university and review the progress regularly to ensure that the project was completed within the timeframe.

The Chief Minister also gave his consent to flag off the full marathon, dedicated to the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev, on March 31.

Singh said the sports ecosystem, strengthened with the upgradation of infrastructure in the last two years, would be instrumental in nurturing the budding talent.

The state's new sports policy had provided the much-needed thrust to nurturing budding players, he said.