India’s HS Prannoy reacts after scoring a point against Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei. (Source: AP/PTI)

Shuttler HS Prannoy on Saturday questioned the criteria for Arjuna Award selection, saying players who have won nothing are recommended instead of those with medals in Commonwealth Games medal and Asian Championships.

His comments come on the backdrop of the Badminton Association of India (BAI) recommending doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and men’s singles player Sameer Verma for the honour on Tuesday.

“Same old story. Guy who has Medals in Cwg and Asian Championships not even recommended by Association. And guy who was not there on any of these major events recommended, #waah #thiscountryisajoke” an angry Prannoy wrote on Twitter.

#arjunaawards Same old story. Guy who has Medals in Cwg and Asian Championships not even recommended by Association. And guy who was not there on any of these major events recommended #waah 🤝👏 #thiscountryisajoke

— PRANNOY HS (@PRANNOYHSPRI) June 2, 2020

BAI also recommended the renowned National Institute of Sports (NIS)-certified coaches S Murlidharan and Bhaskar Babu for the Dronacharya Award.

“BAI has diligently assessed the performances of the athletes and coaches during the last four years before sending the names to the Sports Ministry for the recommendation,” the BAI said in a release.

Prannoy was left out from the list last year as well after which he had lashed out on social media and said, “If you ever want your name in the Awards list, make sure you have people who will get your name to the list. Performance is least considered in our country. Sad state of our county but can’t help it. Let go and just play until you can.”