Virender Sehwag, Sardara Singh part of Arjuna Award Selection committee

Former India star cricketer Virender Sehwag and former Indian hockey team captain Sardara Singh will be part of the selection committee for the National Sports Awards appointed by the Sports Ministry on Saturday. 

Supreme Court Justice (Retd) Mukundakam Sharma has been appointed by the Sports Ministry as the Chairman of Committee which will select the National Sports awardees including Khel Ratna, Arjuna and Dronacharya.

"Its an honour to be appointed in the panel. Just a few years back I remember receiving the Arjuna award and nominated by Hockey India for Khel Ratna. Now I am a part of the committee. I promise to select the best and most deserving sportspersons from respective disciplines based on pure merit and his or her overall contribution to their respective sports. India is full of sporting heroes and so it's a difficult task to chose the most deserving ones. But I promise that the committee will recommend the best of the bests," Sardara Singh told Republic TV over the phone.

The Committee will also be selecting awardees for Dhyan Chand Award, Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar Award, and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy for the year 2020.

The members include eminent names from the field of Indian Sports including Virender Sehwag (Cricket), Sardar Singh (Hockey), Monalisa Baruah Mehta (Table Tennis), Deepa Malik (Para-athletics), Venkatesan Devarajan (Boxing) as well as well-known media persons including Sports Commentator Manish Batavia and Sports Journalists Alok Sinha and Neeru Bhatia. Officials from the Sports Ministry on the committee include Director General, SAI, Shri Sandip Pradhan, LS Singh, Joint Secretary (Sports Development), and Commander Rajesh Rajagopalan, CEO Target Olympic Podium Scheme. 

Two additional members who have been Dronacharya awardees may be invited by the Chairperson while considering the nomination for Dronacharya Award.