National Sports Awards 2025

Why in News? The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports announced the National Sports Awards 2025 on 18 August 2026. The awards recognise outstanding performances by Indian sportspersons and coaches. The selection committee was chaired by Justice (Retd.) Arun Kumar Mishra, former Supreme Court Judge. The government selected 17 sportspersons for the Arjuna Award, one…

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National Sports Awards 2025

Why in News?

The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports announced the National Sports Awards 2025 on 18 August 2026. The awards recognise outstanding performances by Indian sportspersons and coaches. The selection committee was chaired by Justice (Retd.) Arun Kumar Mishra, former Supreme Court Judge. The government selected 17 sportspersons for the Arjuna Award, one for the Arjuna Award (Lifetime), and five coaches for the Dronacharya Award. No sportsperson was selected for the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award for 2025.

Arjuna Award 2025

The Arjuna Award recognises consistent international-level performance, leadership, sportsmanship and discipline.

The 2025 awardees include prominent athletes such as Tejaswin Shankar, Vidit Gujrathi, Divya Deshmukh, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand.

The final award list contains 17 sportspersons, reduced from the 24 names recommended by the selection committee in December 2025. The earlier recommendation list included athletes from athletics, chess, badminton, hockey, shooting, wrestling, kabaddi and other disciplines.

Arjuna Award (Lifetime)

I. Arumainayagam was selected for the Arjuna Award (Lifetime). He is a former Indian footballer and coach who contributed to Indian football over several decades.

Dronacharya Award 2025

Five coaches were selected for the Dronacharya Award.

Regular Category:

Parveer Singh — Athletics
Chhote Lal Yadav — Boxing
Neha Nandkumar Chavan — Shooting

Lifetime Category:

Dharmendra Singh Yadav — Boxing
Virender Kumar — Wrestling

Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar

The Army Paralympic Node, Pune was selected for the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar 2025. The award recognises institutional contribution towards sports promotion and development.

The Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna is India’s highest sporting honour. The Arjuna Award was instituted in 1961, while the Dronacharya Award was instituted in 1985.

The government increased the prize money of the Arjuna Award to ₹15 lakh and the Khel Ratna to ₹25 lakh.