Arjuna Award conferred to boxer Manoj Kumar

Boxer Manoj Kumar was conferred the prestigious Arjuna Award by Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Sports and Youth Affairs Sarbananda Sonowal here on Wednesday.

"We are happy to offer this award to the most deserving Manoj Kumar; we believe he will bring more and more glory to the country," Sonowal said.

Manoj Kumar too expressed his delight in a two line Hindi couplet. "Thodi si hasti thoda sa imaan bacha paya hun, ye kya kam hai mai apni pehchaan bana paya hun," the pugilist said.

Manoj, a gold medal winner in 2010 Commonwealth Games, was earlier overlooked by the Arjuna Awards Selection Committee, which mistakenly believed that he was involved in a doping case.

Manoj Kumar had initially approached the Sports Ministry when his name was omitted from the list of 15 sportspersons considered for the awards, while the name of boxer Jai Bhagwan was included.

Kumar claims that the Sports Ministry officials had assured him that his name would be added to the list during a review meeting.

But during the review meeting on August 19, the Selection Committee decided not to make any changes in the original list, forcing him to approach the court.