It's offical now: No Khel Ratna for Krishna Poonia

New Delhi: Putting an end to all speculations, the Sports Ministry on Thursday confirmed that it will stick to the original list of winners for the Khel Ratna and Arjuna awards thereby dashing discus thrower Krishna Poonia's hopes of getting country's highest sporting honour.

The Ministry also confirmed that in a rare move, the date of the national sports award function has been postponed from August 29 to August 31 due to Sports Minister Jitendra Singh's non-availability on the earlier date.

Normally August 29, which is legendary Dhyan Chand's birthday is celebrated as 'National Sports Day' and all the government sports awards are presented on that very day.

"The file has been cleared by Mr Jitendra Singh and there has been no addition to the original list of awardees for both Khel Ratna and Arjuna award. We have stuck to the recommendations made by the committee," Sports Secretary PK Deb said.

"The award function, which was earlier to be held on August 29 has been shifted to August 31," Deb added.

Deb said the reason for the delay in announcing the list of awardees was because the Minister was looking into the grievances made by Poonia and London Paralympics silver medallist H N Girisha after their names were left out from the list of recommendations made by the selection panel.

"We were looking into all the complains and the grievances of some athletes and that was the reason why we delayed the announcement of the awards," he said.

After the chorus for considering Poonia's name for the Khel Ratna grew, Jitendra held a number of meetings with his Secretary to arrive at a final decision, even as the Ministry continued to indicate that there would be no change in either the name recommended for the Khel Ratna award or the initial 15 names of sportspersons nominated for the Arjuna awards.

The controversy started after ace shooter and World Cup winner Ronajn Sodhi's name was recommended for the Khel Ratna award last week, with some members of the panel questioning the process of his selection.

A selection panel member had said that Poonia and Girisha were shortlisted for voting by 11 out of 12 selection panel members and Sodhi's name was not considered initially.

According to reports, the scenario, however, changed after ace shooter and Khel Ratna selection panel member Anjali Bhagwat came in late for the meeting and Girisha's name was removed.

Eventually the voting was for the selection of either Sodhi and Poonia.

The award's selection committee is headed by three-time billiards world champion Michael Ferreira and comprises former India hockey captain Zafar Iqbal, archer Limba Ram, cricketer Ravi Shastri and national TT champion player Indu Puri amongst others.

Poonia, a 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallist, was upset that the committee ignored her for the Khel Ratna despite having support from some members.

The Minister was also supposed to take a call regarding the case of national volleyball player Tom Joseph.

Joseph's name was also reportedly approved initially by the selection panel for Arjuna Award but it was dropped later in the absence of Sports Authority of India (SAI) officials.

Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna: Ronjan Sodhi Arjuna Award: Chekrovolu Swuro (Archery), Ranjith Maheshwari (Athletics), P V Sindhu (Badminton), Kavita Chahal (Boxing), Rupesh Shah (Billiards & Snooker), Virat Kohli (Cricket), Abhijeet Gupta (Chess), Gagan Jeet Bhullar (Golf), Saba Anjum (Hockey), Rajkumari Rathore (Shooting), Joshna Chinnappa (Squash), Mouma Das (Table Tennis), Neha Rathi (Wrestling), Dharmender Dalal (Wrestling), Amit Kumar Saroha (Para Athletics).

Dronacharya Awards: Poornima Mahato (Archery), Mahavir Singh (Boxing), Narinder Singh Saini (Hockey), K P Thomas (Athletics), Raj Singh (Wrestling).

Dhyan Chand Awards: Mary D'souza Sequeira (Athletics), Syed Ali (Hockey), Anil Mann (Wrestling), Girraj Singh (Para Sports).

Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar: Community Sports Identification and Nurturing of Budding Young Talent (Dr U K Mishra, Founder and President, National Sports Academy, Allahabad), Financial Support for Sports Excellence (Services Sports Control Board), Establishment and Management of Sports Academies of Excellence (Pullela Gopichand Academy of Badminton, Hyderabad), Employment of Sportspersons and sports welfare measures (Petroleum Sports Promotion Board).