This is now a tradition, isn’t it? Not the National Sports Awards themselves, but the drama, the inevitable outcry that accompanies them. Continuing with its longstanding commitment to the bizarre, the 12-member Awards Committee, this year, had purportedly left out Manu Bhaker from the Khel Ratna list. The only Indian with twin medals from an Olympics was not in reckoning for the country’s highest sporting honour for failing to file a nomination.
The Ministry of Sports hasn’t formally announced anything yet, but the leaked “preliminary” list has only Indian hockey captain Harmanpreet Singh and Praveen Kumar, para high jump gold medallist at the Paris Paralympics, as the two nominees. Faced with the collective disbelief at Manu’s absence, the Ministry had to jump in, pleading that, of course, this was not the final list. The norms allow athletes to self-nominate for these awards, so they’re not entirely at the mercy of their federations.
But the selection committee also has the freedom to add names that didn’t come through the application process. “It’s really appalling. Why should a top sportsperson apply for or request an award? Awards should come naturally and automatically.
How can it be ignored? There has to be some system in place,” Manu’s personal coach and former Commonwealth and Asian Games medallist Jaspal Rana rightly questions. Manu’s exclusion is especially strange since she won bronze medals in the 10m air pistol individual and 10m air p.
