Panaji: Olympian and Asian Games gold medallist Fortunato Franco is nursing a broken heart after being ignored by the sports ministry for the Dhyan Chand Award for lifetime contribution to sports.Instead, the award, given to those who haven't won other top honours like the Arjuna and Dronacharya, has been bestowed upon Franco’s teammate and fellow 1960 Olympian, Syed Shahid Hakim , a man who Franco feels didn’t achieve as much as the others as a footballer.“The decision has left me with a broken heart. If merit is the sole criteria to choose the winner, what have I not achieved,” asked Franco, the former Maharashtra and Tatas half-back who, in his prime, was as good as anyone else in Indian football.During Indian football’s season of contentment in the sixties, Fortunato Franco bagged more than 50 international caps, was part of India’s 1960 Rome Olympic squad and won a historic gold medal at the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta in front of 1,10,000 opposing fans.Interestingly, Franco, 80, is among the rare starting eleven players -- Prasanto Sinha and Tulsidas Balaram being the others -- from that all-conquering 1962 squad who has not been honoured by the central government.For close to six months now, Franco had enough reason to believe that the sports ministry would finally recognise his contribution and honour him with the Dhyan Chand Award. Chief minister Manohar Parrikar, formerly India’s defence minister, had given the go ahead for his application to be processed through the Sports Authority of Goa SAG ), and when deadline day approached, the state government air-dashed a high-ranking official with the documents to Delhi.It all seemed smooth going for Franco and his hopes until he read the news in local newspapers on Tuesday that Hakim has got the nod ahead of him, with Bhupender Singh (athletics) and Sumarai Tete (hockey) being the other awardees.“I’ve given my life for football and anyone who saw me play will testify to what I did on the field. I saw the pro-forma (for the awards) where marks are allotted for various achievements. I can’t understand how I got left out,” said Franco, now settled in Colva.A senior official who is in the know of things said Hakim may have been considered for his overall record, and not just his playing career.“Don’t forget that Hakim, apart from being a footballer, was also a successful coach and top-notch Fifa referee who officiated approximately 40 international games. Besides, he has contributed to football much after he retired,” said the official.Significantly, Hakim, son of India’s greatest ever coach, the Late Syed Abdul Rahim, is Chief Project Director at Sports Authority of India (SAI).According to ministry’s guidelines, “to be eligible for the Award, a sportsperson should have had not only good performance at international level but also should have continued to contribute to promotion of sports in his individual capacity even after his career as a sportsperson is over.”