Jumbo sports awards list named, no Arjuna for Sakshi, Mirabai

nNEW DELHI: The sports ministry ignored the Arjuna award claims of woman wrestler Sakshi Malik and weightlifter Mirabai Chanu when it announced a long list of awardees on Friday. The two are former recipients of the highest sports award—the Khel Ratna.

The extensive national sports awards list included five Khel Ratna, 27 Arjuna, 13 Dronacharya (regular and lifetime in coaching) and 15 Dhyan Chand (lifetime award), which, coming in a non-olympic year, has faced criticism.

The Arjuna winners include India pacer Ishant Sharma, women’s team all-rounder Deepti Sharma, woman sprinter Dutee Chand and young shooting stars, Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary. Three para athletes are among the Arjuna awardees.

There have been glaring omissions too. Star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, who won the 2018 CWG and Asiad gold, has been ignored for Khel Ratna while track legend PT Usha was not nominated for the Dronacharya.

The 12-member committee headed by Justice (Retd.) Mukundakam Sharma gave its recommendation on Tuesday. The panel had left it to the ministry to decide on Malik and Chanu.

Malik, the Rio Olympics medallist, was awarded Khel Ratna in 2016 and Padma Shri in 2017. Chanu received both in 2018, after winning the world championships the previous year. Both had said they wanted Arjuna too.

“You give three-four Khel Ratnas in an Olympic year. This has brought down the importance of the awards. Also, the panel should have considered performance at world level; everyone should be measured by the same parameters. You cannot have one athlete getting Khel Ratna for the world championship and another for a level lower,” said Sushil Kumar, the double Olympicmedal winning wrestler.