It's official! Sports ministry remains firm, no Khel Ratna for Krishna Poonia

Putting an end to all speculations the Sports Ministry today confirmed that it will stick to the original list of winners for the Khel Ratna and Arjuna awards thereby dashing discus thrower Krishna Poonia39s hopes of getting country39s highest sporting honour The Ministry also confirmed that in a rare move the date of the national sports award function has been postponed from August 29 to August 31 due to Sports Minister Jitendra Singh39s nonavailability on the earlier date Normally August 29 which is legendary Dhyan Chand39s birthday is celebrated as 39National Sports Day39 and all the government sports awards are presented on that very day quotThe file has been cleared by Mr Jitendra Singh and there has been no addition to the original list of awardees for both Khel Ratna and Arjuna award We have stuck to the recommendations made by the committeequot Sports Secretary P K Deb said quotThe award function which was earlier to be held on August 29 has been shifted to August 31quot Deb added Ronjan Sodhi Deb said the reason for the delay in announcing the list of awardees was because the Minister was looking into the grievances made by Poonia and London Paralympics silver medallist H N Girisha after their names were left out from the list of recommendations made by the selection panel quotWe were looking into all the complains and the grievances of some athletes and that was the reason why we delayed the announcement of the awardsquot he said After the chorus for considering Poonia39s name for the Khel Ratna grew Jitendra held a number of meetings with his Secretary to arrive at a final decision even as the Ministry continued to indicate that there would be no change in either the name recommended for the Khel Ratna award or the initial 15 names of sportspersons nominated for the Arjuna awards The awards were to be announced Monday but the sports minister was apparently busy with parliament39s monsoon session and also the party affairs he has been entrusted by Congress vicepresident Rahul Gandhi and could not clear the file The delay led to lot of bad blood between the award winner and the other claimant some of the committee members were also dragged into the unseemly media debate Two members of the committee were livid that it has become a fashion for athletes to question the decisions taken by eminent sports persons after taking into account all the available material of a claimant Both discounted the speculative media stories giving the sequence of events before deciding on the Khel Ratna award They said all names were on the table when they met to take the decision Both insisted that no member should divulge what transpired at the meeting when everything discussed or spoken there was confidential quotThe discussions are healthy and every member applies his or her mind and there could be even vehement disagreements But what is important is the decision taken at the end of it allquot one member told IANS refusing to divulge the nature of deliberations at the meeting quotThe decision has been taken and there has to be some sanctity about it It is ridiculous for anyone to speculate or try to reopen the issue just because someone doesn39t like itquot Another highly respected member of the committee felt that the media too should not read too much into the deliberations once a decision is taken It doesn39t matter what a particular individual said at the meeting quotIt doesn39t matter what a member said at the meeting ultimately the decision taken is what matters not who thundered or who dissented It is akin to a cabinet decision not what transpired at the discussions stagequot the member said Doubletrap shooter Ronjan Sodhi has been recommended for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Cricketer Virat Kohli is one of the 14 chosen for the Arjuna Award Full award list Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Ronjan Sodhi Arjuna Awards Chekrovolu Swuro Archery Renjith Maheshwary Athletics PV Sindhu Badminton Kavita Chahal Boxing Rupesh Shah Snooker and Billiards Virat Kohli Cricket Abhijeet Gupta Chess Gaganjeet Bhullar Golf Saba Anjum Hockey Rajkumari Rathore Shooting Joshna Chinappa Squash Neha Rathi Wrestling Dharmender Dalal Wrestling Amit Kumar Saroha Athleticsu00a0