Bangalore: The Union sports ministry on Wednesday attempted to clear the air on the Joaquim Carvalho row, stating that the hockey coach’s application for the Dronacharya award was received well after the deadline.

“The Indian Hockey Federation’s letter of recommendation and the application are dated May 29 but the date of receipt is June 4. We had extended the deadline to June 2 as the preceding two days were holidays. But the central postal register at the ministry says we received Carvalho’s application well after the deadline was over,” ministry sources told TOI.

Carvalho’s documents have been placed in the ‘late file’ along with other high-profile applications including Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Chandu Borde, the sources said. “We cannot do anything about it now. Carvalho had applied individually earlier.

“Though it landed on time, we did not consider it as the papers had not been routed through the national federation, state government or the IOA.”

But the explanation did not cut much ice with Carvalho who claimed that his
forms from the IHF were in the Ministry of Sports drop box by May 30. “The MoS has delayed in sorting out the mail. Otherwise, how do you explain the case of Dhoni and Borde. Their applications were forwarded on May 27.”

On Tuesday, Carvalho had claimed that he was a ‘victim of politics’ and had urged sports minister MS Gill to order a probe into the exclusion of his name from the list of nominees.

“I still insist that this faux pas has to be probed. I have been getting elusive answers from ministry officials since morning. First they said my application was not received. When I faxed a few relevant documents they turned around and said my application was in the ‘late file.’

“I am sure there is something fishy going on. I have been made a scapegoat in the tussle between the IHF and IOA.”

However, the sources dismissed the allegations and said it did entertain recommendations from the IHF following its suspension. “We accept recommendations from any recognised sports body. In fact, the recognition for the IHF has only been suspended. So, we don’t see a problem there. Also, we don’t believe in being too harsh as we are actually helping athletes and coaches gain recognition.”