The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports today announced the National Sports Awards 2025 but this time no player has been selected for the country’s highest sports honour Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna. On the other hand, 17 players have been selected for the Arjuna Award, while one player has received the Lifetime Arjuna Award.
Apart from the Arjuna Award, three coaches have been selected for the Dronacharya Award. Based on the recommendations of the selection committee headed by former Supreme Court Justice (retd) Arun Kumar Mishra, the government has decided to give awards to players, coaches and institutions in various categories.
The names of Tejaswin Shankar (Athletics), Mohammad Ajmal V (Athletics), Priyanka Goswami (Athletics), Trisha Jolly (Badminton), Pullela Gayatri Gopichand (Badminton), Narendra (Boxing), Vidit Gujarati (Chess), Divya Deshmukh (Chess), Dhanush Srikanth (Badahir Shooting), Lalremsiami (Hockey), Rajkumar Pal (Hockey), Surjeet (Kabaddi), Pooja (Kabaddi), Rudransh Khandelwal (Para-Shooting), Ekta Bhian (Para-Athletics), Arvind Singh (Rowing), and Akhil Sheoran (Shooting) have been selected for the Arjuna Award 2025. The Arjuna Award is given to sportspersons who have demonstrated outstanding performance, leadership, sportsmanship and discipline in the field of sports in the last four years.
Dronacharya Award 2025, Parveer Singh (Athletics), Chhote Lal Yadav (Boxing), and Neha Nandkumar Chavan (Shooting) have been selected. The Dronacharya Award is given to coaches who consistently do excellent and competent work and help players perform better in international competitions.
