Arjuna heading for another farce: govt, panel play football

With Sports Minister Vikram Verma categorically refusing to prune the list, the ball is back in the committee’s court. One member of the committee told The Indian Express, on condition of anonymity, that the members had done their job and it is for the minister to do what he wants to.

When asked why the panel had failed to stick to the government guidelines, the member said that the government was spending heavily on preparing and sending teams abroad. ‘‘And when they win medals like they did in Manchester and Busan, why can’t the minister consider it necessary to relax the rules? Awards have been given left, right and centre even when there were no Games. But last year, it was exceptional with two major Games and a record haul by our athletes.’’

Meanwhile, the Dronacharya committee, comprising Ramakant Achrekar, Ajit Pal Singh, Kartar Singh, VS Chauhan, JS Saini, Kamlesh Mehta, Madhumita Bisht, Bula Chauhhary and two government nominees — NS Ranawat and Devpreet Singh — huddled for over six hours to decide on worthy coaches for the award.

Of the 30-odd names that came for scrutiny, over a dozen of them had come after the due date — May 31 — and the committee seems to have settled on the rest and made five recommendations, including athletics coaches Jaswant Singh, the husband of thrower Neelam, and Renu Kohli, the coach of middle-distance runner Sunita Rani, besides cricket coach Tarak Sinha, a kabaddi and a yachting coach.