Gopichand recommends HS Prannoy for nomination of Arjuna Award

Indian shuttler HS Prannoy has been recommended for the Arjuna award by chief national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand after the Badminton Association of India ignored him for a second successive year due to disciplinary issues.

On June 2, BAI had recommended Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty and Sameer Verma for Arjuna award, leaving out Prannoy which prompted the shuttler to express his displeasure on twitter.

“Same old story. Guy who has medals in CWG and Asian Championships not even recommended by the association. And guy who was not there on any of these major events



recommended. #waah #thiscountryisajoke,” Prannoy had said in his now-deleted tweet.

It has emerged now that Prannoy’s name was recommended by Gopichand on June 3 in his capacity as a Khel Ratna Award recipient.

“Gopichand recommended Prannoy for Arjuna on June 3 after BAI decided not to send his name. He did it as a winner of Khel Ratna and not as the chief India coach. He was not aware of the disciplinary issues,” a source close to the development told PTI.

Gopichand, however, refused to comment on the issue, while Prannoy didn’t respond despite repeated calls.