The Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports on Monday announced the National Sports Awards 2025, recognising outstanding performances and contributions across various sporting disciplines.
The National Sports Awards are presented every year to honour sportspersons, coaches and organisations for excellence in sports and their contribution to the promotion of sporting culture in the country.
Based on the recommendations of the Selection Committee chaired by former Supreme Court Judge Justice (Retd.) Arun Kumar Mishra, the Government has decided to confer awards under various categories.
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 athletes for consistent performances over the previous four years, along with qualities of leadership, sportsmanship and discipline.
The awardees are:
1. Tejaswin Shankar — Athletics
2. Muhammed Ajmal — Athletics
3. Priyanka Goswami — Athletics
4. Treesa Jolly — Badminton
5. Pullela Gayatri Gopichand — Badminton
6. Narender — Boxing
7. Vidit Santosh Gujarathi — Chess
8. Divya Jitendra Deshmukh — Chess
9. Dhanush Srikanth — Deaf Shooting
10. Lalremsiami — Hockey
11. Rajkumar Pal — Hockey
12. **Surjeet** — Kabaddi
13. **Pooja** — Kabaddi
14. Rudransh Khandelwal — Para Shooting
15. Ekta Bhyan — Para Athletics
16. Arvind Singh — Rowing
17. Akhil Sheoran — Shooting
Arjuna Award (Lifetime)
The Arjuna Award (Lifetime) is conferred to sportspersons who have made significant contributions through their performances and continued to promote sports even after retiring from active competition.
I Arumainayagam — Football has been selected for the Arjuna Award (Lifetime) 2025.
Dronacharya Award 2025
The Dronacharya Award honours coaches who have consistently delivered outstanding and meritorious work and helped sportspersons achieve excellence at international events.
Three coaches have been selected in the regular category:
* Parveer Singh — Athletics
* Chhote Lal Yadav — Boxing
* Neha Nandkumar Chavan — Shooting
The Lifetime category will honour:
* Dharmendra Singh Yadav — Boxing
* Virender Kumar — Wrestling
Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar 2025
The Army Paralympic Node, Pune has been selected for the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar 2025.