CHENNAI: "I am shocked," was the reaction from Mehuli Ghosh after her name was struck off from the list of Arjuna awardees on Tuesday. More than six months after the selection panel recommended names for the National Sports Awards for 2025, the sports ministry on Tuesday released the final list of recipients for the previous year and the shooter's name was missing.
More than anything, the ministry decided not to bestow Khel Ratna on any athlete after the panel didn't recommend any name for the coveted award. Besides, the list of 24 athletes as recommended for the Arjuna Award by the panel headed by former Supreme Court Judge Arun Kumar Mishra was pruned to 17 by the ministry. It also meant the 10m air rifle shooter from West Bengal missed out on an Arjuna Award.
The shooter, who has won multiple medals at the World Championships apart from finishing on podium in the junior and senior World Cups, was at a loss of words after hearing the developments. "I don't know what else an athlete has to do after qualifying for Olympics and winning World Championships medals to gain eligibility for the national sports awards," Ghosh, who competed at the 2024 Paris Games, told this daily. "I just want to know what else I can do," she added.
The 25-year-old shooter refrained from revealing her next move but said she has spoken to the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) and got a positive response from the national governing body. It should be noted that Ghosh applied for the award three years ago as well but was not considered for the same.
"There were already names of quite a few shooters in the list including para-shooters and that might have prompted the ministry to exclude Mehuli from the final list," a source in the know of things said.
No recommendation for Khel Ratna
Contrary to common practice, it was learnt that the panel has not recommended any name for the prestigious Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. It was reported that midfielder Hardik Singh was recommended for the honour but a selection panel member, however, said they did not recommend any name. This year, the award selection panel featured, among others, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) vice president Gagan Narang, former shuttler Aparna Popat and former hockey player MM Somaya.
Tejaswin, Divya among Arjuna Awardees
Meanwhile, World Cup-winning chess player Divya Deshmukh, decathlete and high-jumper Tejaswin Shankar and shuttler Gayatri Gopichand were among the 17 sportspersons named for the Arjuna Award. The selected names also included Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi, Gayatri Gopichand's women's doubles partner Treesa Jolly, Glasgow Commonwealth Games silver-medallist boxer Narender Berwal (+92kg), and young deaf rifle shooter Dhanush Srikanth.
Notably, the 19-year-old Deshmukh is the first Indian woman to win the World Cup while Gujrathi was part of the gold-winning Indian team at the 2024 Chess Olympiad. Besides, Tejaswin recently won a ground-breaking bronze at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games despite battling a knee problem. He had also won a historic decathlon silver medal in the Asian Games in 2023 and followed it up with a second-place finish in the Asian Championships previous year.
Delay to maintain sanctity
Sources also informed that the long delay was caused because the ministry wanted to maintain the sanctity of the awards. They say there were issues related to nominations in the past and in its bid to prevent them from recurring again, the ministry took considerable time before finalising the awards.
Awardees
Arjuna Awards: Tejaswin Shankar (Athletics), Priyanka Goswami (Athletics), Narender (Boxing), Vidit Gujrathi (Chess), Divya Deshmukh (Chess), Dhanush Srikanth (Deaf Shooting), Rajkumar Pal (Hockey), Surjeet (Kabaddi), Rudransh Khandelwal (Para-Shooting), Ekta Bhyan (Para-athletics), Arvind Singh (Rowing), Akhil Sheoran (Shooting), Treesa Jolly (Badminton), Gayatri Gopichand (Badminton), Lalremsiami (Hockey), Muhammed Ajmal (Athletics), Pooja (Kabaddi).
Arjuna Awards (Lifetime): I Arumainayagam (Football)
Dronacharya Award: Parveer Singh, Chhote Lal Yadav, Neha Chavan
Dronacharya Award (Lifetime): Dharmendra Yadav, Virender Kumar