Sports awards need overhaul

IT is time to rethink and reimagine the national sports awards. This year’s awards were not bereft of controversy, as expected, for controversy has become a hallmark of this annual recognition of sporting achievement. Every year, the awards cause a row, despite a new selection committee being formed — the fault clearly lies in the system. This year’s selection committee has been overly generous, naming a very large number of individuals for awards — 29 sportspersons for the Arjuna Award, 14 more than suggested by the guidelines. It did the same with the Dronacharya Award (13 instead of five) and Khel Ratna awards (five instead of one).

In theory, the Arjuna Award system — for leading sportspersons — should not go wrong: This points-based system, introduced in 2014, assigns points to different levels of achievement. However, it is weighed heavily in favour of Olympic sports, to the detriment of sports such as golf, chess, polo or snooker. For instance, despite India being in the midst of a chess boom, no Arjuna Award has been given to a chess player since 2013, and no chess coach has been given the Dronacharya Award since 2006. Often, the discretion of the selection committee overrules the points system, as does the political decision to promote indigenous sports such as kho-kho or Mallakhamb — thus athletes/coaches of these sports override the points system.

The Khel Ratna recommendations are purely discretionary and often flawed. The recognition for table tennis player Manika Batra defies logic — she won the Arjuna Award in 2018 for her exploits at that year’s Commonwealth and Asian Games, and now she’s been given the Khel Ratna for that very show even as her performance has waned. Women’s hockey team captain Rani Rampal has also got the Khel Ratna, though her achievements seem relatively paltry for this award. The selection committee is liable to err or be pressured. There is a very persuasive view that the state should simply provide infrastructure, funds and jobs for sportspersons and get out of the business of handing out awards — awards politicise sport and divert the energy of sportspersons. But since populism can’t be done away with, the least that should be done is to reorganise and reform the awards system.