Saina Nehwal disappointed as she gets rejected for Padma Bhushan again

 Ace woman Badminton Player, Saina Nehwal is disappointed with the Sports Ministry. According to a report by First Post Sports, Nehwal’s name was recommended for the prestigious Padma Bhushan Award by the Badminton Association of India (BAI) in August. Instead, two time Olympic medalist, wrestler Sushil Kumar has been chosen over her.  According to the Ministry he has proved to be a more deserving candidate.

This decision seems unfair to the Badminton player who says that since Kumar received the Padma Shree Award in 2011, he hasn’t completed the five year norm. Nehwal, on the other hand was bestowed with the Padma Shree in 2010, which makes her eligible to receive the award this year.  Additionally, her name was rejected on similar grounds last year as well.

According to First Post Sports, Nehwal said, "I heard that Sushil Kumar's name was sent for Padma award as a special case, while my name was not sent to Ministry of home affairs by sports ministry. The ministry guidelines says that there needs to be a gap of five years between two Padma awards. So if they can send his name, why they didn't recommend my name as I have completed the five years gap. I felt bad about it."

Sushil Kumar at London Olympics
Picture By: The Hindu

The 24 year-old; who is the only badminton player in India to win a medal at the Olympics, added, “After 2010, I had won a Commonwealth Games gold medal, first Olympic medal for badminton, achieved a career-high ranking of two and won so many super series titles, so I thought I was deserving as well. But if the name has not been sent then it feels bad."

As Nehwal added that she would be happy to see Sushil Kumar get the award, she also said, "Sushil is a great player but then medal is a medal. We both won medals at the Olympics. They could have given the award to him after 2012 Olympics as a special case if they had to. Why do it now? I am disappointed."

ORIGINAL SOURCE:  First Post Sports

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Report by

Shubhangini Arora