AIFF recommends Gurpreet Sandhu and Jeje for Arjuna

TIL Desk Sports/ All India Football Federation (AIFF) has recommended the names of Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and Jeje Lalpekhlua for the prestigious Arjuna award this year. It was confirmed by AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das on Saturday.

Despite the parent body’s recommendations, the question, however, remains whether the star goalkeeper and the striker would be third time lucky? The federation had been pushing the cases of the two footballers since 2017 but the Arjuna award committee continued to ignore their claims.

In 2017, the AIFF recommended the two footballers along with then Indian women’s team captain Bembem Devi but only the last named was conferred with the award. Sandhu and Jeje’s names were sent again last year but they did not receive the approval.

Both Sandhu and Jeje are the national team’s longest serving footballers after Sunil Chhetri, who have received both Arjuna and Padma Shri. Sandhu is the only second footballer (the other being Sunil Chhetri) in India to play the Asian Cup final rounds twice in 2011 and 2019.