New Delhi: Mired in selection controversies, the national sports awards were presented by President Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhawan on Friday in a ceremony severely short on star power. This was also the first time in 20 years that the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna the country’s highest sporting honour has not been awarded.
Like in the past, selection controversies cast a shadow on the ceremony and matters came to a head when boxer Manoj Kumar dragged the sports ministry to court after being overlooked for the Arjuna award despite qualifying in the new points system. To make matters worse, the awards selection committee did not find any athlete worthy of the Khel Ratna.
None of the seven candidates, whose names were forwarded to the committee, got the 12-member panel’s nod, making it the first time since 1994 when no sportsperson was named for the top award.Controversies aside, the ceremony followed long-standing traditions as awardees walked up to to receive their respective honours from the President amid resounding applause from dignitaries present, including Vice President M. Hamid Ansari and sports minister Sarbananda Sonowal.
A notable absentee from Friday’s ceremony was cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin. The off-spinner could not make it as he is currently on national duty in England in the ongoing ODI series. The others who were bestowed the honour were Akhilesh Varma (archery), Tintu Luka (athletics), H.N. Girisha (paralympics), V. Diju (badminton), Geetu Ann Jose (basketball), Jai Bhagwan (boxing), Anirban Lahiri (golf), Mamta Pujari (kabaddi), Saji Thomas (rowing), Heena Sidhu (shooting), Anaka Alankamony (squash), Tom Joseph (volleyball), Renubala Chanu (weightlifting) and Sunil Rana (wrestling).
