It has come to light that the Union sports ministry has selected hockey wizard Dhyan Chand over Sachin Tendulkar as a nominee for the highly prestigious award of India Bharat Ratna.
The names of both the sportstars were discussed before Dhyan Chand, who sparked India's unmatched gold rush at the Olympics, came out as the ministry's choice in a meeting on Wednesday.
Remarkably, the ministry had weighed representations from supporters of both the greats but finally decided on the hockey legend, rationalizing the fact that an active sportsperson always stood an opportunity of earning the country's highest honor in the future.
In addition, Sports minister Jitendra Singh was truly impressed by a delegation led by Dhyan Chand's son Ashok Kumar, which met him on 12th July and argued in his favor. Former Indian cricket captain Bishan Singh Bedi was also part of the delegation. Ashok Kumar declared that the minister disclosed that he supported their views and he would personally hand over the letter recommending his father's name for the Bharat Ratna to the Prime Minister.
Dhyan Chand, who demised in 1979, won three gold medals at the Olympics - in 1928 at Amsterdam, in 1932 at Los Angeles and in 1936 at Berlin. Apart from these medals, he is known as a man who had singularly popularized the game as well as contributed to the country's aura as masters of the game during the pre-independence era.
According to the sources, Jitendra has batted for Dhyan Chand in his letter to PM Manmohan Singh. Sources added that the recommendation, which will be studied with more people, will require the seal of approval from the PM and President Pranab Mukherjee for Dhyan Chand to hand over the award posthumously.
Ashok Kumar expressed that he is glad that his name has been recommended. Dhyan Chandji was always a simple man who worked hard for hockey, never expected any rewards in return. Truly, the Bharat Ratna would be a big honor for him as well as the game.
It can be recollected that the government had ignored a collective plea of 82 MPs who had backed Dhyan Chand for the award in December 2011. The ministry had forwarded the names of Dhyan Chand, mountaineer Tenzing Norgay and shooter Abhinav Bindra for the award. In a series of incidents, Tendulkar's name was absent as BCCI had not recommended his name.
