The sports awards this years have been marred by controversies . Earlier the Sports Ministry had overturned para athletic coach Satyanarayana’s recommendation for the Dronacharya award and now the government has decided to take a relook at the case of Heera Nand Kataria in the Dronacharya category.
Kataria had been recommended by a committee headed by the national badminton coach, Pullela Gopichand and had been approved by Sports Minister Vijay Goel earlier.
"We had received a lot of complaints against Heera Nand. Generally, we follow a procedure that the name which the committee recommends we go by that. I feel somewhere there was a mistake by the committee. When I got to know about this, I decided to keep his award on hold unless we completely investigate the matter. We have taken the decision that he won't be getting the award on August 29," Goel said.
But there had been objections on Kataria’s eligibility from certain quarters and therefore Kataria’s recommendation has been put on hold for the time being. It has been reported that Kataria who had been nominated by the selection panel for his contribution in Kabaddi , is a joint secretary of the Wushu Association of India and the Kabaddi players and coaches have expressed surprise over his selection.