Gopichand bags Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award

Onkar Singh in New Delhi

The President of India K R Narayanan on Saturday presented the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award to Pullela Gopichand for the year 2000 for his outstanding badminton performances in international competitions.

Gopichand had won the All England Championship recently.

He is only the second Indian to have achieved this unique feat after Prakash Padukone.

The president also gave away Arjuna awards.

Flying Sikh Milkha Singh, who had raised the issue of partisan treatment in selecting the awardees, was conspicuous by his absence.

But what surprised most was that though in the official Arjuna awards booklet the name and achievements of Milkha Singh were prominently mentioned, the sports ministry refused to print his picture in the booklet.

Among those who received the Arjuna awards were Abhinav Bindra, Anjali Vedpathak (shooting), Olympians Balkishan Singh and Group Captain R S Bhola, Madhu Yadav (all hockey) and the late K D Jadhav, who had won India's only Olympic medal in an individual event till date.

Speaking to newsmen after the ceremony Pullela Gopichand said that he was extremely happy.

"I am obviously very pleased. I think this would give a boost to Indian badminton and would inspire me to do better and better in the coming days in the international tournaments. I still have some years ahead of me and I am sure that this award would go a long way in inspiring me to train hard," Gopichand told rediff.com.

Gopi felt that eminent sports persons should be on the committee that decides the Arjuna awardees.

"But since this selection is done on the large scale there is bound to be some controversy. I would not like to get involved in it," he said.

Abhinav Bindra too avoided answering question relating the issue raised by Milkha Singh.

"I am happy that I have got this award. I would train hard to achieve more," he said.

Anjali Vedpathak felt controversy could be avoided if people like Ramanathan Krishnan and Prakash Padukone were also involved in the process of selection.

"This would bring transparency in the awards," she said.

Balkishen Singh, who had initially rejected the award, finally turned up to receive the award. He too parried questions relating to the controversy involving the way Arjuna awards were given to some of the awardees.

Minister of Sports Uma Bharti, who was present throughout the ceremony, gave the media a slip and sped away in her car using the back exit of the Rashtrapati Bhavan, while the newsmen waited for her in the forecourt of the President's House.

K D Jadhav's wife Kusum, who received the award on behalf of her late husband, was happy that her husband's contribution had at last been recognised.

"My husband decidedly deserved Padma Vishbhan or even higher award (she was hinting at Bharat Ratna). When my husband came back in 1952 after winning his medal in the Olympics the people of the village took out a procession to mark his victory. Every minister I spoke to said that my husband should have been honoured but they did precious little. Never mind better late then never," she told rediff.com in broken Hindi.