Manu Bhaker, independent India's first athlete to win two medals in a single edition of the Olympics, made the headlines on Monday (December 23) after she was shockingly ignored for this year's Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award. However, a top sports ministry source has stated that the nomination list is not finalised yet and Bhaker is likely to be there in the final list that will be unveiled in a week's time.
For the unversed, Manu won two bronze medals at the Games in August this year in the 10m air pistol individual and 10m air pistol mixed team events. Several reports of her omission from the nomination list for Khel Ratna left her family shocked as they claimed that she had applied for the same.
"There is no final list of nominees at this point. Sports minister Mansukh Mandaviya will decide on the recommendations in a day or two and her name, in all likelihood, will be there in the final list," the ministry source said according to PTI. The ministry, in its defence, claimed that Manu Bhaker didn't apply for the award but her father, Ram Kishan, said her daughter had followed the process.
"There is no worth of playing Olympic sports in India because despite winning two medals in an Olympics, Manu has been ignored for the Khel Ratna award. There is no point in playing and winning rewards for your country and in turn, beg for recognition. She had been applying for all awards, say Khel Ratna, Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan for the last 2-3 years continuously and I have proof of that.
"This time too, I am confident she would have applied but I can't show anything as I am at sea right now. But even if she hasn't, the committee should consider her looking at her achievements. We form a committee but it is the bureaucrats who call the shots. This is not how sports function," a livid Ram Kishan told PTI.
It is understood that India's hockey captain Harmanpreet Singh has been recommended by the committee for the award for leading the team to its second consecutive Olympic bronze. Para-athlete Praveen Kumar who won a gold in the men's high jump T64 class with an Asian record at Paris Paralympics has also been recommended for the honour.
