Arjuna for Ashwin; No Khel Ratna this year

NEW DELHI: It's for the first time in over two decades that no sportsperson has been picked for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awards for the year 2014. The panel, which met in the Capital on Tuesday to name players for different sporting awards, picked 15 for the Arjuna Award but decided not to confer the country's highest sporting honour on anybody . It is only the second time since the award was instituted in 199192, that no one has been chosen.
Those who will get the Arjuna include cricketer R Ashwin, golfer Anirban Lahiri, shuttler V Diju, athlete Tintu Luka and shooter Heena Sidhu. There were over 70 names in contention but the panel, led by former Test skipper Kapil Dev, pruned the list to 15 after a meeting that lasted over five hours. "It was a long meeting and everything was discussed threadbare," a member of the committee told TOI. "The chairman of the committee Kapil Dev checked every detail minutely . Every nomination was discussed thoroughly ."
Ashwin got the nod for his all-round performance, which included his feat of becoming the quickest Indian to reach 100 Test wickets. The off-spinner reached the milestone in just 18 Tests, seven Tests quicker than Kapil himself. "Kapil observed that it was no mean feat since Ashwin reached the milestone ever faster than Ian Botham, who got it in 19 Tests," the member said.
Lahiri was a strong favourite for the Arjuna award having dominated the Asian Tour, winning four titles since 2011. Heena too has had strong performances in the last four years during which she won several medals in international events including the World Cup Finals, Asian Games and the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
No hockey player was picked even though recommendations for Shivendra Singh, Tushar Khandkar, VR Raghunath and Dharamvir Singh were made.
Golfer Jeev Milkha Singh could consider himself a little unlucky as his name was taken up for discussion for the Khel Ratna award, but he missed out since he has won only one title -the 2012 Scottish Open -in the last four years. The winner of four European Tour titles, however, can hope to have the award in future as the ministry could change the criteria, taking lifetime achievements into account while considering the award.
Jeev was one of the seven sportspersons in fray for the Khel Ratna. Other included Krishna Punia, PV Sindhu and Somdev Devvarman. The panel included Jaspal Rana, Anju Bobby George, Kunjarani Devi, Lalrem Sanga, Anupam Gulati and Sports Authority of India DG Jiji Thomson.
ARJUNA AWARDEES 2014
Abhishek Varma (archery), Tintu Luka (athletics), HN Girisha (Paralympics), V Diju (badminton), Geetu Ann Jose (basketball), Jai Bhagwan (boxing), R Ashwin (cricket), Anirban Lahiri (golf), Mamta Pujari (kabaddi), Saji Thomas (rowing), Heena Sidhu (shooting), Anaka Alankamany (squash), Tom Joseph (volleyball), Renubala Chanu (weightlifting) and Sunil Rana (wrestling)