Japsal Rana, a celebrated shooter during his days and now coach of Manu Bhaker, who won two bronze medals at the Paris Olympic Games, said the controversy regarding his student’s exclusion from the list of Dhyan Chand Khela Ratna 2024 award winners should not have happened in the first place.

“Yes. This has set a bad precedent.” Rana told The Telegraph on Tuesday.

“The sports ministry should rethink the criteria for the awards. It’s demoralising and demotivating for other athletes too. Someone who has won two medals (in shooting) in the Olympic Games finds her name missing from the highest sports award! She is an inspiration for many and if she gets a raw deal think what message goes to those who aspire to bring laurels to the country,” the 48-year-old multiple-time Asian Games gold medal-winning former shooter added.

After reports came out that Manu’s name from the list of Khel Ratna winners was missing, the ministry went into a damage control mode and said the list was not the final one. “It does not show the powers that be in good light. Does it?” Rana said.

Rana has been a vociferous critic of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) for a long time and on Tuesday said this unnecessary controversy might affect Manu’s future performance. “She could feel bad about how everything panned out.”

While, the 22-year-old Manu, on Tuesday, admitted on social media that there could have been a lapse on her behalf while filing the nomination for the Khel Ratna award, Rana said someone should have done that for her. “Someone could have alerted Manu.”

The sports awards have courted controversy for a long time. In 2020, eyebrows were raised when table tennis star Manika Batra’s name was recommended ahead of Neeraj Chopra — he was yet to take the javelin world by storm — for the Khel Ratna.