The Sports Ministry has not named any athlete for the prestigious Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, but announced 17 sportspersons for the Arjuna Award on Tuesday (August 18). India’s highest sporting honour, instituted in 1991/92, will have no recipient for 2025 — only the third time in its history and the first since 2014. The National Sports Awards selection committee, headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice (Retd) Arun Kumar Mishra, cleared the recommendations and forwarded them to Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya for final assent.
The development comes after three names compound archer Jyothi Surekha, and the Indian women’s cricket team captain and her deputy, Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana, respectively were considered for the Khel Ratna, with the committee discussing those names at its meeting in New Delhi last December.
Although a Times of India report claims the names of the two women cricketers were discussed at length, the absence of a specific point-based system to assess cricket performances became a hindrance. Usually in such cases, the committee relies on the BCCI’s nominations, and the Indian Cricket Board made no nominations for this award last year.
Fast bowler Mohammed Shami was the last cricketer to be conferred the prestigious Khel Ratna Award, which carries a cash prize of ₹25 lakh, a medallion and a citation, in 2023.
While there was no name for the top prize, the sports ministry named 17 athletes from different disciplines for the Arjuna Award, recognising their excellence in their respective events last year.
Full List of 17 Arjuna Award Winners
- Tejaswin Shankar (Athletics)
- Muhammed Ajmal V (Athletics)
- Priyanka Goswami (Athletics)
- Treesa Jolly (Badminton)
- Pullela Gayatri Gopichand (Badminton)
- Narender (Boxing)
- Vidit Santosh Gujarathi (Chess)
- Divya Jitendra Deshmukh (Chess)
- Dhanush Srikanth (Deaf Shooter)
- Lalremsiami (Hockey)
- Rajkumar Pal (Hockey)
- Surjeet (Kabaddi)
- Pooja (Kabaddi)
- Rudransh Khandelwal (Para Shooting)
- Ekta Bhyan (Para-Athlete)
- Arvind Singh (Rowing)
- Akhil Sheoran (Shooting)
The sports ministry also conferred one Arjuna Award in the lifetime category on footballer I Arumainayagam.
Meanwhile, the coaches recommended for the Dronacharya Awards included Parveer Singh (Athletics), Chhote Lal Yadav (Boxing) and shooting coach Neha Nandkumar Chavan.
The lifetime category honours went to coaches Dharmendra Singh Yadav (Boxing) and Virender Kumar (Wrestling).
The Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar, awarded for sports promotion and development, went to Army Paralympic Node, Pune.