More than a month after 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Manoj Kumar was overlooked for the Arjuna award, the sports ministry has decided that he is eligible for the same.

A top official of the sports ministry conveyed the decision to Manoj’s brother Rajesh Kumar, who is a boxing coach. Incidentally, it was Rajesh who filed a case in the Delhi High Court after Manoj was ignored for the award by the Kapil Dev-led committee because he was mistaken for his namesake, a junior boxer who had failed a dope test.

“I called up Manoj’s brother and informed him that the sports ministry has decided that he is eligible for the Arjuna award,” Omkar Kedia, the joint secretary in the sports ministry, confirmed to The Indian Express on Wednesday. Manoj is set to participate in the Asian Games and Kedia said that he will be conferred with the award once he returns from Incheon.

The boxer said that he had tried his best to overcome the disappointment of not getting the Arjuna award by focussing on the Asian Games.

“I had forgotten about the award. For the past one month, I have been preparing for the Asian Games at the national camp. Agar kismet main hota toh mil jata. Main yahi sochta tha. I stopped reading newspapers as I did not want to divert my attention. It’s good that the ministry has decided to give me the award after the Asian Games. We leave for Korea tomorrow and it surely will be a huge boost for me,” said Manoj, who won the gold medal in 64 kg category in 2010 Commonwealth Games.

After the Kapil Dev led selection committee refused to include Kumar’s name in the list in their second meeting on August 18, his brother Rajesh had filed a case against the sports ministry in Delhi High Court on August 28.

“We filed the case after all our efforts failed. We were disappointed and did not watch the awards function on television.”

The boxing coach had also filed an RTI with regard to the Arjuna award being given to Jai Bhagwan while Manoj was being ignored. ‘We were only asking for transparency and the reason for ignoring Manoj for the Arjuna award. This was the last year for us as the four-year period of the medal consideration was to end this year.”