Pankaj Advani and Jwala Gutta Question Padma Snub

New Delhi: Hurt at missing out on Padma Bhushan award for the second year in a row, 16-time world champion cueist Pankaj Advani says he does not know what he needs to do more to receive the coveted civilian honour.

In fact, Advani found support in badminton player Jwala Gutta who also questioned the criteria for selecting recipients of the Padma Awards after being left out.

She went on to ask the whole system where recommendations are needed to get these awards and suggested that winning laurels and performance alone should be the yardstick and not recommendation letters.

While Advani expressed his feelings on Twitter, Jwala did the same on her Facebook page.

Advani, who has pocketed eight world titles in the last eight years, was recommended for the third highest civilian award of the country by the Karnataka government as well as the Billiards and Snooker Federation of India (BSFI).

"Thank you sir. Just feel after 16 world titles and 2 Asian games golds if I'm ignored for a padma bhushan, don't know what more I need to do," Advani tweeted in his response to sports minister Vijay Goel, who congratulated him for winning a staggering 28th national title in Pune earlier this week.

Thank you sir. Just feel after 16 world titles and 2 Asian games golds if I'm ignored for a padma bhushan, don't know what more I need to do https://t.co/kI1pmFL0M9

— Pankaj Advani (@PankajAdvani247) 25 January 2017

No sportsperson was chosen for Padma Bhushan this year while eight athletes from various disciplines, including Virat Kohli and Dipa Karmakar, were honoured with Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour which Advani received way back in 2009.

Advani has also been awarded with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna (2006), India's highest sporting honour.

Expressing her disappointment, Jwala wrote: "I always wondered the concept of applying for particular award which is the most reputed awards in our country.. but then that's what the procedure is.. so I did apply...applied cos it's prestigious to have the award..cos I thought maybe I made the people of my country proud by my game and deserved it.

"I have been playing for this country for more than 15 years now..and have won so many prestigious tournaments..

"I thought maybe I should apply..but I guess it's never enough..you need recommendations, recommendations that you deserve an award. You need to put in a word and get letters and the list goes on and on..but the question I still have is why do I have to apply for an award and also ask for recommendation.

"Aren't my credentials good enough? Well I am really curious about the whole system..My two consecutive medals, Delhi CWG gold and Glasgow silver is not enough, My World Championships medal is not enough, I was top 10 ranked in this women doubles and mixed doubles and my superseries performance and medals in Grand Prix gold is not enough," she added.

(With Agency Inputs)