National Sports Award criteria may change from next year

TIL Desk Sports/ To ensure that no deserving candidate misses out on the Arjuna award, the sports ministry is planning to revise the criteria for selection, which would allow un-nominated athletes to be considered for the honour. It has been learnt from reliable sources that Sports Minister Vijay Goel has already started discussions on changing the selection criteria.

“See, the credentials of the selection committee have never been questioned and transparency is also there. Eminent people are always part of the committee but we have to revise the scheme from next year,” a Sports Ministry official, privy to the development told.

“Soon, new guidelines will be put in place and even those who have not applied or have not been nominated by their respective Federations, will be considered if they have performed well and are deserving,” added the official.

Asked if it was being done to avoid a fiasco like the one involving tennis player Rohan Bopanna, who has been consistently ignored despite good performance, the official said the exercise is meant to revamp an old system.