The Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports on Tuesday announced the National Sports Awards 2025, recognising outstanding performances by sportspersons, coaches and institutions across a wide range of disciplines.
The awards are presented annually to honour sporting excellence and contributions to the development and promotion of sports in India. This year’s selections were made on the recommendations of a committee headed by Justice (Retd.) Arun Kumar Mishra, former Judge of the Supreme Court of India.
Arjuna Awards 2025:
A total of 17 sportspersons have been selected for the Arjuna Award for outstanding performance in Sports and Games 2025. The award recognises sustained excellence over the previous four years, along with qualities of leadership, sportsmanship and discipline.
The recipients include Tejaswin Shankar, Muhammed Ajmal V, Priyanka Goswami and Treesa Jolly, while Pullela Gayatri Gopichand has also been selected for the prestigious honour.
Other awardees include Narender (boxing), Vidit Santosh Gujarathi and Divya Jitendra Deshmukh (chess), Dhanush Srikanth (deaf shooting), Lalremsiami and Rajkumar Pal (hockey), Surjeet and Pooja (kabaddi), Rudransh Khandelwal (para-shooting), Ekta Bhyan (para athletics), Arvind Singh (rowing) and Akhil Sheoran (shooting).
Arjuna Award (Lifetime):
Football legend I Arumainayagam, a member of India’s gold medal-winning team at the 1962 Asian Games, has been selected for the Arjuna Award (Lifetime).
The lifetime honour recognises sportspersons who have made a significant contribution through their playing careers and continued to promote and develop their sport after retirement.
Dronacharya Awards:
The Dronacharya Award for outstanding coaches has been announced in both Regular and Lifetime categories.
In the Regular Category, the recipients are Parveer Singh (athletics), Chhote Lal Yadav (boxing) and Neha Nandkumar Chavan (shooting).
The Lifetime Category honours Dharmendra Singh Yadav (boxing) and Virender Kumar (wrestling) for their long-standing contributions to coaching and athlete development.
The Dronacharya Award recognises coaches who have consistently produced outstanding results and helped Indian sportspersons achieve success at international competitions.
Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar:
The Army Paralympic Node, Pune has been selected for the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar 2025.
The award is presented to organisations, including corporate entities and NGOs, that have made a significant contribution towards the promotion and development of sports.
The award process was conducted through an online application system, allowing sportspersons, coaches and eligible entities to apply directly. A large number of applications were received and evaluated by the selection committee, which included eminent sportspersons, sports journalists and sports administrators.
The National Sports Awards continue to recognise not only achievements on the field but also the wider contribution of athletes, coaches and institutions towards strengthening India’s sporting ecosystem.
