marks. Rest of the sportspersons are given marks in proportion to the maximum points. For team events, marks are given as per the strength of the team. Following are the points defined for medals at the given events: For a given discipline, not more than two sportspersons, one male and one female, are given highest marks. The committee may not recommend the award to the sportsperson with the highest marks across disciplines but can only recommend the recipient of the highest aggregate marks in a particular sports discipline. The recommendations of the selection committee are submitted to the Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports for further approval. List Controversies The 2002 selection committee, headed by former football player Pradip Kumar Banerjee made twenty one recommendations for the Arjuna Award and two recommendations for the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award (then known as the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award), athlete K. M. Beenamol and shooter Anjali Bhagwat. The government rejected the recommendations and asked the committee to cut down the list to comply with the award guidelines, where only one sportsperson for the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award and fifteen sportspersons along with one disabled athlete for the Arjuna Awards could be recommended each year. The committee revised the list to recommend Beenamol for the award over Bhagwat but also put a request "to consider everyone". The decision spurred criticism for ignoring the achievements of the shooter and Bhagwat and the National Rifle Association of India expressed their "disappointment" with the decision. Later, the government accepted all the recommendations "as an exception" and jointly awarded Beenamol and Bhagwat for the year 2002. In August 2013, the selection committee, headed by Michael Ferreira recommended sport shooter Ronjan Sodhi for the award, with some committee members questioning the process of selection. A committee member noted that discus thrower Krishna Poonia and Paralympic athlete Girisha Nagarajegowda were shortlisted and Sodhi was not the initial choice. However, Girisha's name was removed, and the final voting was done between Sodhi and Poonia. Poonia was accused of lobbying for the award by one of the committee member Anjali Bhagwat, but the accused met the then Union Sports Minister Jitendra Singh to promote her case and also rubbished the lobbying allegations. The Ministry conducted a separate enquiry by Secretary of Department of Sports and decided not to increase the number of awards "to maintain the