Sports Awards 2006

This is in regards to the Sports Awards 2006 given by the government of India to various sports personalities of the nation.These awards have always created controversies after their announcements because of the selection criteria and procedures.

According to IBNLive.com this years Rajeev Gandhi Khel Ratna Award will be given to 21-year-old Bangalore cueist Pankaj Advani. Advani is the reigning world billiards champion and the winner of the Amatuer World Snooker title in 2003. He also won the Arjuna Award in 2003. He was nominated along with Rahul Dravid & Mahesh Bhupati, both of whom have been playing for the country for a much longer time. I think Mahesh Bhupati is being ngleglected as he deserves the award the most among the nominies.This is also important as he might not be nominated in the future, as he is getting old and his game isent getting any better. And he is also managing his sports company GloboSport.But we should never forget that he is the best doubles Tennis player India has ever produced. Rahul Dravid & Pankaj Advani are here to stay for some more years but this might be Hesh's last shot at the country's highest sporting honour - "The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna".

The comitee has managed to keep its tredition of creating controversies with the awards for one more year, as there are no male cricketers in the nominees of the "Arjuna Award" for this year. No cricket fan would like this in our cricket crazy country.

Well, congratulations to Mr. Advani and good luck to all the hopefull players who didn't get the chance this year. Let's hope that Hesh keeps up the good work and gets the award in the future.