Bangalore: Disappointed at the exclusion of Sourav Kothari and Chitra Magimairaj from the Arjuna Awards list, ace Indian cueist Pankaj Advani on Monday said the central government is discriminating and not giving due recognition to non-Olympic sportspersons in the country.

"Why should there be a discrimination? Why are we looking at the Olympics and Asian Games as be all and end all sport, and measure our sporting excellence just based on our performances in Olympics," he told reporters here after being felicitated by the Karnataka Snooker and Billiards Association for winning his 13th World Championship title in Karachi.

Advani, who successfully defended his world 6-red snooker crown, had outplayed top Chinese cueist Yan Bingtao 6-2 in the best-of-11 frame final.

Advani is concerned about the plight of cue sport players in the country and urged the government to look into these things and implement policies without discriminating Olympics and non-Olympics sportspersons in terms of recognising their achievements.

"I don't know what is really happening when it comes to decision... who makes this decision, but someone really needs to look at these things seriously," he said.

Advani believes the government should realise that cuesport players are as deserving as Olympians. "If policies are made for the development of sports, I think the government realises that we (cueists) also achieve as much as those sportspersons competing in Olympics and Asian Games," he said.

Advani also feels that cue coaches and trainers are also not given their due for creating world champions over the years. "It is disappointing that our trainers and coaches do not get Dronacharya awards just because they are not participating in Olympics," he said.

Advani said it wass also sad that the Sports Authority of India cuts half of the total funds allocated for cue sports.

Advani also criticised the government for not including cue sports under the Target Olympics Podium Scheme (TOPS), meant for training athletes for next Olympics. "The government can include cue sports in the Target Olympics Podium Scheme... the government has allocated crores to train athletes two years before the Olympics. If they have this kind of money why can't they give it to cue players," Advani asked.

Advani said the discrimination will simply kill the aspirations of people who want to take up cue sports. "If you do this (discrimination), you will be killing those aspirants who want to take up cue sports. They will say, hey, if the sport is not an Olympics and the government does not recognise it, then what's the point in playing the sport," he said.

"The government in other words is telling us that if you are extremely consistent and winning year after year, it is not good for you, you need to win once in four years. If one bags a medal in Olympics, it becomes a part of history but what about the history being created here by us." (PTI)