The ministry, headed by Sports minister Mansukh Mandaviya, were keen on picking only worthy athletes, who achieved something significant, in order to preserve the exclusivity and integrity of the Arjuna award
Published: August 18, 2026, 4:32 PM IST
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India’s Tejaswin Shankar celebrates after winning the bronze medal in the Men’s Decathlon at the Commonwealth Games 2026 in Glasgow, Scotland, on Friday, July 31, 2026(Credits: IANS)
The Indian Sports Ministry will not hand out the biggest sporting award of the country, which is the Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award for 2025, but a total of 17 athletes have been selected for the Arjuna award across the able-bodied and para categories.
This will be first time since 2014 that the Khel Ratna award will not be awarded to anyoneThe selection committee, led by former Supreme Court Judge Arun Kumar, had originally recommended a total of 24 athletes for the Arjuna Award but the ministry has approved only 17 of those, which includes some high-profile names and Commonwealth Games 2026 medallists.
The disciplines include Athletics, Hockey, Boxing, Chess, Kabaddi, Badminton, Para sports and RowingThe Arjuna awards list was announced after a lengthy delay after the ministry stated that it would conduct a thorough evaluation process.
The ministry, headed by Sports minister Mansukh Mandaviya, were keen on picking only worthy athletes, who achieved something significant, in order to preserve the exclusivity and integrity of the Arjuna award.
Who are the 2025 Arjuna Award winners?
The list is spearheaded by Decathlete and CWG 2026 silver medallist Tejaswin Shankar, who is joined by race walker Priyanka GoswamiNarender Berwal, who recently won a silver in the men’s 90kg category at the recently concluded Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, is the only Boxer to be present in this list.
19-year-old Chess sensation Divya Deshmukh, the first Indian woman to win the World Cup, finds herself along with fellow teammate from the 2024 Olympiad gold medal winning team Vidit Gujrathi in the Arjuna award list.
From Para sports, only three have made the cut and those include deaf shooter Dhanush Srikanth, Rudransh Khandelwal and club thrower Ekta BhayanBack in 2024, a total of 32 athletes were picked for the award and out of those, 17 were para athletesHowever, this time around, there are only three.
2022 Asian Games silver meadllist Arvind Singh is the only one from Rowing to be conferred for the coveted award. Women’s badminton duo Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand will also be awarded with the recognition.
Multiple Shooting World Championship and World Cup medallist Akhil Sheoran is the only shooter included in the listFrom Kabaddi, Asian Games gold medal winners from the men’s and women’s teams Pooja Narwal and Surjeet Singh are also there.
Lastly, from Hockey, 2024 Paris Olympics Bronze medal winning midfielder Rajkumar Pal has made the cutFormer Indian footballer, I Arumainayagam, member of the 1962 Asian Games gold medal winning team, is the only winner of the Arjuna Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Boxing coach Chhote Lal Yadav, Throwing coach Parveer Singh and Shooting coach Neha Chavan have been conferred with the Dronacharya awardDharmendra Yadav and Virender Kumar are the only two Dronacharya lifetime award winner.
Here’s the full list:
Tejaswin Shankar (Athletics), Priyanka Goswami (Athletics), Narender (Boxing), Vidit Gujrathi (Chess), Divya Deshmukh (Chess), Dhanush Srikanth (Deaf Shooting), Rajkumar Pal (Hockey), Surjeet (Kabaddi), Rudransh Khandelwal (Para-Shooting), Ekta Bhyan (Para-athletics), Arvind Singh (Rowing), Akhil Sheoran (Shooting), Treesa Jolly (Badminton), Gayatri Gopichand (Badminton), Lalremsiami (Hockey), Muhammed Ajmal (Athletics) and Pooja (Kabaddi).
Arjuna Awards (Lifetime): Shri I Arumainayagam (Football)
Dronacharya Award: Parveer Singh, Chhote Lal Yadav and Neha Chavan
Dronacharya Award (Lifetime): Dharmendra Yadav and Virender Kumar.
