Celebrated wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt and Paralympian Deepa Malik were among the new inductees in the government's All India Council of Sports (AICS), from which batting great Sachin Tendulkar and chess wizard Viswanathan Anand have been omitted for not being "active" enough.
The tenure of AICS, an advisory body to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports which was formed in 2015 by then Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, has been extended by three years and it will continue to be led by veteran sports administrator V K Malhotra as President.
Some other renowned new entrants in the Council are former shooter Anjali Bhagwat, footballer Renedy Singh, and mountaineer Bachendri Pal. Senior India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has also been inducted in the council.
"The Ministry took the decision to drop a few names who were not that active and include a few new ones. I have just got the order and will discuss the matter with Ministry officials in the coming days," AICS President Malhotra told PTI.
Other sportspersons who were dropped from the previous council are former weightlifter N Kunjarani Devi, footballers I M Vijayan and Bhaichung Bhutia, national badminton coach Pulella Gopichand and Star India CEO Uday Shankar, who was in the previous council as a sports expert.
Indian Weightlifting Federation President B P Baishya and Wrestling Federation of India chief Brijbhushan Saran Singh will represent the National Sports Federations (NSFs) in the Council.
Former archer Limba Ram and sprint legend P T Usha, already part of the original panel that was formed in December, have been included in the new panel as eminent coaches. The duo was earlier categorised as former eminent sportspersons.
Malik, Bhagwat and Prashanti have been included as sports experts, while former cricketer Krishnamachari Srikkanth and mountaineer Arunima Sinha have been roped in as sports administrators.
The Council is an advisory body for implementation of policies; matters relating to promotion of inclusiveness in sports with special focus on women, differently-abled, tribals etc.
As per its terms of reference, the Council is also expected to advise on the matters of preventing drug abuse in sports, fraud of age and sexual harassment of women; bringing professionalism, transparency and good governance in functioning of NSFs, and ways and means to raise resources for the promotion of sports and games in the country.
Apart from that, it is also expected to spread the culture of sports in the country and advise government on development of human resource capital for sports and welfare of athletes among others.