Akhtar Ali shocked at son being 'ignored' for Arjuna

Former Davis Cup coach Akhtar Ali expressed 'shock' and 'dismay' over the non-inclusion of his son and ace tennis player Zeeshan Ali in this year's list of Arjuna award winners.

''I was shocked to see Zeeshan being ignored yet again despite his glittering career,'' Akhtar Ali said.

Zeeshan, the Asian Games gold medallist in 1994 and a bronze medal winner in 1990, is the only Indian tennis player other than Leander Paes and Ramesh Krishan to have won a round in the Olympics. He achieved the feat in Seoul in 1988.

Akhtar said Sandeep Kirtane, who has been selected for this year's Arjuna award, is a rank junior compared to his son, and also miles behind in his performance graph.

''The tennis fraternity has been hoping for the last few years that the coveted award would go to Zeeshan, but every time he has been ignored,'' a dismayed Akhtar said.

He informed that he had met Union Sports Minister Uma Bharti last year to represent his son's case. ''She had assured me that justice would be done to him," he said.

Akhtar said he had also sent a missive to the new chairman of the selection committee, former badminton star Prakash Padukone, a few months back along with Zeeshan's bio-data, but ''still I find that the powers-that-be do not consider him worthy enough."

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