Sachin deserved Bharat Ratna, but what about other legendary sportspersons?

New Delhi: In a country where emotions rule over logics, if today one dares to questions the greatness of legend cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, who will be conferred with Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award, in comparision to the equal greatness of other sportspersons who were to content with Padma Bhushan, not even Padma Vibhushan, will there be any takers….? The answer might be well be a big “NO.”Lets accept the fact that in India only cricketers rule and all the other sportspersons are treated at arms lenth. And it shows the way the government of India doles out awards to cricketers. India TV looks at the some of the sportspersons who excelled in their respective field to deserve Bharat Ratna. Tenzing Norgay: The first person to climb Mount Everest He was the first person to climb Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world. He is being mentioned in every General Knowledge book in the world for the last 60 years. Tenzing's feat was such that Queen Elizabeth II was too eager to award him and since he was not eligible, conferred with the governments of Nepal and India and gave him a George Medal and Coronation medal.Unfortunately Tenzing Norgay came first in everything except the Government of India list. No Bharat Ratna, No Padma Vibhushan either. He had to Just content himself with a Padma Bhushan, which more than 1000 other Indians have received! Major Dhyan Chand: Greatest hockey player ever He featured in three Olympics, winning three Golds. He scored 8 goals against USA in the final that went down to India 24-1. Such was the humiliation that USA stopped playing hockey for decades. Bettering that by beating Germany 8-1 in the final scoring 3 goals in front of the mighty Adolf Hitler himself. Such a frequent goal scorer he was that people thought he was a cheat using wrong means to score goals. Even his Hockey stick was broken and was given an umbrella stick but the result was same….goals and more goals. He is undisputedly the all time great hockey player yet he had to content himself with just a Padma Bhushan.Mihir Sen: India's greatest swimmer He was the first Indian to cross the English Channel and the first Asian to cross the Strait of Gibraltar. He became the first person in the world to cross the Dardanelles. He crossed six water bodies in a single year. He was given Padma Bhushan in 1967 and he died penniless and broken at the age of 66 in June 1997. Michael Ferreira: Two time World Amateur Billiards Championships He was the first Indian in the world to win an amateur billiards world title and repeating the feat. First he was nominated for a Padma Shri for that feat but when he refused it, the government decided to upgrade it to Padma Bhushan. Mary Kom: 5 World boxing titlesWoman boxer Kom has won whopping 5 World Amateur Boxing Championship Gold Medals at a time when we yearned for one solitary world championship. Imagine not having woman's boxing in the Olympics in your entire prime of career. For the government a Padma Shri was enough for the iron lady. She scrapped her way past her prime for an Olympic Bronze Medal and only after a lot of pushing by her fans and sports writers did she get the Padma Bhushan. Leander Paes: 14 doubles and mixed doubles Grand Slams He became World No. 1 in the junior tennis ranking way back in 1992. He won the Olympics Bronze Medal in 1996. Since then he has won 8 doubles Grand Slams and 6 in mixed doubles. In all he has 53 doubles titles. For all his achievements what he got was a Padma Shri like more than 2500 others. Viswanathan Anand: 5 World Championship Chess titles Viswanathan Anand became International Master at 15, national champion at 16 and subsequently became India's first Grand Master. He broke the stranglehold of the Russians and won the World title in 2000. While that was a “split” title, many critics didn't think it that an achievement. After reaching 37, he was written off by many but he stormed back to take four back to back world titles. For a change he became the first ever sportsperson to get the Padma Vibhushan. Sachin Tendulkar: The man worshipped as “GOD” of cricket There are 196 countries in the world and only 8 countries, who have playing regularly test matches, though there are ten countries who have been given test status by ICC but Bangaladesh were given test status only in 2000 and Zimbabwe were re inducted in to test in August 2011after poor showing saw them lose test status.India won the 1983 World Cup under Kapil Dev's captaincy and Mohinder Amarnath was the man of the match in both the semi-final and final. We won the mini World Cup under Sunil Gavaskar's captaincy and Ravi Shastri was the champion of champions. We won the ICC Champions Trophy under Sourav Ganguly's captaincy and Virender Sehwag was the star. We won the 2007 T20 WC, 2011 ODI WC and 2013 ICC Champions Trophy under MS Dhoni's captaincy. In Tests, Sunil Gavaskar and Rahul Dravid probably won us more matches. But such was the fan following and popularity of tis little man that within hours of his retirement Government of India decided to give him the highest civilian award, The Bharat Ratna.