Abhinn added to Arjuna awardees' list

In a glaring goof-up, former national badminton champion Abhinn Shyam Gupta was left out of the 2004 Arjuna Awards' list, announced by the Government of India on Wednesday.

But on Thursday, the Press Information Bureau issued a statement saying the ace shuttler's name had been inadvertently omitted.

"Abhinn's name figured in the original list but it mistakenly got omitted while the press release was being prepared," sources in the PIB said.

"The list of awardees released to the media on Wednesday may be considered accordingly and the total number of awardees now stands at 15," they said.

However, what was surprising was the fact that the PIB circulated the corrigendum late in the evening, almost a day after it had officially announced the names of the awardees.

Former Davis Cupper and a member of the Arjuna Awards selection panel Jaideep Mukherjea also confirmed that Abhinn had been selected for the honour.

"His name was there as one of the Arjuna Awardees but I don't know why it did not figure in the PIB release yesterday," he said.