New Delhi, 13 November (H.S.): President Droupadi Murmu conferred the National Sports Awards 2025 at a ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Friday. Seventeen sportspersons, including chess players Divya Deshmukh and Vidit Gujrathi, athlete Tejaswin Shankar, and badminton players Treesa Jolly and Pullela Gayatri Gopichand, received the Arjuna Award.

Footballer I. Arumainayagam was honoured with the Arjuna Award in the Lifetime Achievement category. Five coaches received the Dronacharya Award, with three recognised in the regular category and two in the Lifetime Achievement category. The Army Paralympic Node, Pune, was conferred the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar. No sportsperson received the country's highest sporting honour, the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, this year. This is the first time since 2014 that the award has not been conferred on any athlete.

At the ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan, athletics coach Parveer Singh, boxing coach Chhote Lal Yadav and shooting coach Neha Nandkumar Chavan received the Dronacharya Award in the regular category. Wrestling coach Virender Kumar and boxing coach Dharmendra Singh Yadav were honoured in the Lifetime Achievement category. The Army Paralympic Node, Pune, also received the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar. Lieutenant Colonel Daljit Singh accepted the award from the President on behalf of the institution.

The Arjuna Award recipients included chess players Divya Deshmukh and Vidit Gujrathi, decathlete Tejaswin Shankar, athlete Muhammed Ajmal V. and race walker Priyanka Goswami. In badminton, Treesa Jolly and Pullela Gayatri Gopichand received the honour, while boxer Narender, hockey players Lalremsiami and Rajkumar Pal, and kabaddi players Surjeet and Pooja were also recognised. The other awardees were deaf shooter Dhanush Srikanth, para-shooter Rudransh Khandelwal, para-athlete Ekta Bhyan, rower Arvind Singh and shooter Akhil Sheoran.

Divya Deshmukh made history in 2025 by winning the FIDE Women's World Cup, becoming the first Indian woman to claim the title. Earlier, in 2024, she had won a gold medal as part of the Indian women's team at the Chess Olympiad, besides securing an individual gold medal at the same competition. Vidit Gujrathi was a member of the Indian men's team that won gold at the 45th FIDE Chess Olympiad in 2024. He had also won the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament in 2023.

Tejaswin Shankar won a bronze medal in the high jump at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. He subsequently secured silver in the decathlon at the 2023 Asian Games and another silver in the same event at the 2025 Asian Athletics Championships. Muhammed Ajmal V. was part of the Indian teams that won gold in the men's 4x400-metre relay and silver in the mixed relay at the 2023 Asian Games. Priyanka Goswami won silver in the 10-kilometre race walk at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Badminton players Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand won gold at the 2024 Badminton Asia Team Championships. The duo had also secured silver in the mixed team event and bronze in women's doubles at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. However, both players could not attend the award ceremony as they were participating in the Japan Masters tournament. Hockey player Rajkumar Pal was part of the Indian men's team that won bronze at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Lalremsiami has also won medals with the Indian women's hockey team at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games. Kabaddi players Surjeet and Pooja were members of the Indian teams that won gold at the 2023 Asian Games.

In para sports, Dhanush Srikanth won two gold medals in the individual and mixed team 10-metre air rifle events at the 2024 World Deaf Shooting Championships. Rudransh Khandelwal secured silver medals at the 2023 Asian Para Games and the World Championships. Ekta Bhyan won gold in the club throw event at the 2024 World Championships. Rower Arvind Singh won silver at the 2023 Asian Games, while shooter Akhil Sheoran won medals at the 2023 World Championships and Asian Games.

I. Arumainayagam, a member of India's gold-medal-winning football team at the 1962 Asian Games, was honoured with the Arjuna Award in the Lifetime Achievement category. He had also represented India at the 1964 AFC Asian Cup, where the national team finished with the silver medal.

Among the Dronacharya Award recipients, athletics coach Parveer Singh has trained athletes Tajinderpal Singh Toor and Annu Rani. Boxing coach Chhote Lal Yadav has coached M.C. Mary Kom, Jasmine and Sakshi. Shooters Elavenil Valarivan, Ramita and Dhanush Srikanth are among the athletes trained by shooting coach Neha Nandkumar Chavan. Wrestling coach Virender Kumar, honoured in the Lifetime Achievement category, has trained prominent wrestlers such as Sushil Kumar, Ravi Kumar, Amit Kumar and Deepak Punia. Boxers Vikas Krishan, Manjeet Jangra and Manish Kaushik are among the athletes trained by boxing coach Dharmendra Singh Yadav.

The Army Paralympic Node in Pune was established on June 23, 2017, at the Bombay Engineer Group and Centre in Khadki. Its primary objective is to rehabilitate soldiers who have acquired disabilities while performing their duties and prepare them for participation in para sports. The centre has so far trained more than 150 para-athletes across nine disciplines, who have collectively won over 300 medals. Since 2022, its athletes have secured 87 medals at the international level and 170 at the national level. They have also set one world record, one Asian record and six national records. At the 2024 Paris Paralympics, Hokato Sema won a bronze medal.

The Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Awards 2024 were also presented during the ceremony. Baljeet Kaur of Himachal Pradesh and Skalzang Rigzin of Ladakh were honoured in the Land Adventure category, Rimo Saha of West Bengal in the Water Adventure category, and Shiv Prasad Chamoli of Uttarakhand in the Lifetime Achievement category.

Between 2022 and 2024, Baljeet Kaur successfully climbed seven major peaks, including Mount Everest, Annapurna, Kilimanjaro, Manaslu, Makalu, Lhotse and Kangchenjunga. Skalzang Rigzin has climbed the peaks of Lhotse, Annapurna and Everest. Rimo Saha crossed the English Channel in 31 hours and 17 minutes. Shiv Prasad Chamoli has made notable contributions to mountaineering, skiing and rafting.

The approximately 36-minute ceremony was attended by Union Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Sports Secretary Hari Ranjan Rao and several other dignitaries.

The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports had released the final list of award recipients on August 18. The selections were based on the recommendations of a committee chaired by former Supreme Court judge Justice Arun Kumar Mishra. The committee comprised eminent sportspersons, individuals with experience in sports journalism and sports administrators.

The Arjuna Award was instituted in 1961. It recognises consistent outstanding performance in sports over the preceding four years, along with qualities of leadership, sportsmanship and discipline. Each recipient receives a cash prize of Rs 15 lakh, a bronze statuette of Arjuna and a citation.

The Dronacharya Award was instituted in 1985 to recognise outstanding contributions by coaches. Recipients in the regular category receive Rs 10 lakh, while those honoured in the Lifetime Achievement category receive Rs 15 lakh.

Traditionally, the National Sports Awards have been presented on August 29, the birth anniversary of legendary hockey player Major Dhyan Chand, which is observed as National Sports Day. However, the date of the ceremony has not remained consistent since the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar