In the latest case of a sports award recommendation being put on hold, the Government has decided to take a re-look at the case of Heera Nand Kataria in the Dronacharya category.
Kataria was recommended by a committee headed by badminton luminary P. Gopi Chand. The recommendations were approved by Union Sports Minister Vijay Goel on August 22.
Following objections on Kataria’s eligibility, the Sports Minister has asked the department to look into the matter. “We have, as of now, put his case on hold,” Goel confirmed to The Hindu here on Friday.
The complaint against Kataria is that he is little known in kabaddi circles and is reportedly an official of the Rajasthan Wushu Association.
The awards this year have been dogged by controversies. The Ministry had overturned the recommendation for the Dronacharya Award for para-athletics coach Satyanarayana.
Satyanarayana is credited with coaching high-jumpers H.N. Girisha, who won a silver at the London Olympics in 2012 and Thangavelu Mariyappan, winner of gold at the Rio paralympics last year. Mariyappan was among the Arjuna Award winners this year. Satyanarayana was rejected because of a criminal case pending against him in a Metropolitan court in Delhi.
In other cases, weightlifter Sanjita Chanu, a gold medallist at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, has approached the Delhi High Court for being excluded for the Arjuna this year.
India basketball captain P. Anitha on Friday challenged the decision of the committee not to consider her case above Prasanthi Singh for the Arjuna Award. Anitha and Sanjita have claimed that their credentials were better.