The sports ministry has extended the deadline for submitting applications for the national sports awards till June 22 and also allowed athletes to self-nominate in sight of the “difficulties” being faced by them to seek out recommenders amid the COVID-19 lockdown.
Wednesday was to be the Judgment Day of completing the nomination process but the amount has been extended along side the relief within the process thanks to the issues athletes face in “getting the advice of the prescribed authorities/persons due to country-wide lockdown on account of COVID-19 pandemic.”
“…it has been decided to try to to away with the condition of submitting only with the recommendations of the authorities/persons prescribed within the awards scheme,” stated a sports ministry circular.
“…the a part of the appliance form requiring the advice of the prescribed authorities/persons could also be left blank,” it added.
The Ministry has invited only e-mail applications this year thanks to the pandemic.
As per prescribed norms, the nominations for national awards can only be made along side recommendation of the national federation, sports board, and former awardees.
Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju issued a press release on Wednesday to mention that the move is aimed toward easing the nomination process for athletes.
“The country is faced with an unusual situation and therefore the need of the hour is to tweak the nomination rules of the National Sports Awards to make sure that athletes aren’t disadvantaged in any way,” he said.
“The nationwide lockdown has made it very difficult for many of them to succeed in out and seek recommendations for nomination from competent authorities/persons,” he added.
