NEW DELHI: Though the Board of Control for Cricket in India had announced last month that it had nominated India captain Rahul Dravid for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award for 2005, it now transpires that the Board's recommendation did not reach the Union Sports Ministry before the prescribed deadline of May 31.

It was not immediately known whether the Board's recommendation had reached the Ministry even by July 21, the day the screening committee took up the list of recommendations received for the awards including Khel Ratna and Arjuna.

The Board Secretary, Niranjan Shah, had announced Dravid's nomination on July 17. Contacted on Saturday, Mr. Shah admitted that there could have been a delay in forwarding the recommendation since the team was in the West Indies (during May-July) and Dravid's signature was required.

He could not confirm the date by which the papers were submitted to the Ministry.

Not necessary

Sources familiar with the procedures involved in the National sports awards pointed out that it was not necessary to have Dravid's signature in the initial recommendation and the Board could have explained the delay about the signature at a later date while sticking to the deadline.

It is debatable whether Dravid's name would figure in the list of names when a committee headed by former Board President Raj Singh Dungarpur takes up the nominations next week.

Advani favourite

A frontrunner for the Khel Ratna award would be Pankaj Advani who won the World billiards titles (in two different formats) apart from the Asian title last year.

He lost out to long jumper Anju George in the race for the award in 2003 when he had won the IBSF World snooker championship.

The awards are to be presented at a function to be held here on August 29.

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