Sports — Hive

The monsoon months are considered a silly season when nothing happens in Indian sport. Its no longer. Ever since the birth anniversary of hockey wizard Dhyan Chand is commemorated as the National Sports Day there is a lot of excitement as August 29 is also the day to receive national sports awards.

Also, a rare clash between India and Pakistan in the Asia Cup in the Gulf has added fizz to the sporting calendar this year. As the two countries have no bilateral sporting ties and they only meet in the International Cricket Council tournaments or in the regional competitions and so it's the match to follow in the subcontinent.

The two have already met once and India won it easily as they did against Bangladesh. The tournament has been formatted in such a way that the two giants can meet not once, not twice but thrice!

The National Sports Awards are to be celebrated. Yet, for quite some years now, they have been leaving a bad taste in mouth with someone or the other going to court challenging the selection. They are needlessly getting controversial.

The selection of sportspersons for the award can be subjective, but that should not take away or diminish the glory of others.

There appears to be a herd mentality while sitting in judgment over the selection. All those who talk of points system in selecting the awardees, is like the national cricket selectors picking the national squad looking only at the stats of the players.

Spare a thought for the Selection Committee. The 12 members, headed by a judge, have to sift through the credentials of some hundred applicants for the Arjuna Award and two dozen for the Khel Ratna. It’s not a laughing matter if all those sportspersons think that they are good enough to get Khel Ratna or Arjuna.

For the first time, there were three journalists in the committee and all of them are competent men who watch and analyse sport, having reported on multi-discipline events plus cricket. Surely, they would have diligently assessed each and every claimant, just as the chairperson, who by all accounts, meticulously monitored the discussions. Also, in the committee were international sportspersons of yesteryear with impeccable credentials.