New Delhi: Shooting sensation Manu Bhaker's father Ramkishan on Wednesday questioned the selection criteria after the shooting ace was not considered for the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar Award. The 17-year-old has won a plethora of medals in top international competitions since starting out as a 16-year-old in the ISSF World Cup in Mexico in 2018, in which she became the youngest Indian to win a gold at the World Cup. "If she is ignored like this after winning so many medals, then it is really disappointing. I would like to ask again what is the criteria behind selecting the award winners? Hasn't she done enough?" Ramkishan told PTI over phone.

Ramkishan said he has repeatedly tried to contact the top officials of the Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) but did not get any response. "We applied for it well before the deadline and since I came to know from someone that Manu's name is not going to be there this year also, I tried calling the secretary, joint secretary and assistant secretary, but none of them felt the need to respond." "Every time I called them, their personal assistants said they were busy. I have also written 25 mails to them but to no avail," he said.