National Sports Awards 2025: 17 Arjuna Winners; Lalremsiami Becomes Mizoram’s First Recipient

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President Droupadi Murmu presented the National Sports Awards 2025 at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on November 13, 2026, with 17 Arjuna awardees chosen after a ministry-initiated re-evaluation of recommendations made by a selection panel headed by former Supreme Court judge Arun Kumar Mishra. For the first time since 2014, no Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna was awarded. The ceremony, lasting a little over 36 minutes, was attended by Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Mansukh Mandaviya and Sports Secretary Hari Ranjan Rao.

Indian women's hockey player and Olympian Lalremsiami Hmar became the first sportsperson from Mizoram to receive the Arjuna Award. Hailing from Kolasib in northern Mizoram, she made her national debut at the Junior Nehru Hockey Tournament in October 2011, was part of India's Asia Cup-winning side in 2017, and in 2020 became the first Indian woman hockey player to win the International Hockey Federation's Women's Rising Star of the Year award. Her achievements include a bronze at the 2022 Asian Games, Asian Champions Trophy titles in 2023 and 2024, and gold at the 2026 Asian Games.

Among the other Arjuna awardees were decathlete Tejaswin Shankar, World Cup-winning chess player Divya Deshmukh, Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi, women's doubles badminton players Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly, boxer Narender Berwal, and deaf rifle shooter Dhanush Srikanth. The list did not feature any cricketer, continuing the trend since pacer Mohammed Shami received the honour in 2023. Para club thrower Ekta Bhyan and para-shooter Rudransh Khandelwal were also among the awardees. I Arumainayagam, a member of the 1962 Asian Games gold-winning football team, received the Arjuna Award for Lifetime Achievement. The ministry named three Dronacharya awardees: Parveer Singh, Chhote Lal Yadav and Neha Chavan, while Dharmendra Yadav and Virender Kumar were chosen for the Dronacharya Lifetime Achievement honour. The Arjuna Award carries a cash prize of ₹15 lakh.

When were the National Sports Awards instituted?

The National Sports Awards are conferred by the Government of India to recognise excellence in sports. The Arjuna Award was instituted in 1961 as the first of these honours, while the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award was established in 1991–92 as the country's highest sporting honour. The Dronacharya Award for coaches was instituted in 1985. The awards are administered by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, and the selection is made by a committee appointed by the government.

Why were the awards delayed and re-evaluated?

The awards were announced after a massive delay following a Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports-initiated re-evaluation process to ensure only worthy names were honoured and to 'preserve the integrity of the awards.' The selection panel was headed by former Supreme Court judge Arun Kumar Mishra. The awards were traditionally presented on August 29 every year to commemorate National Sports Day, the birth anniversary of hockey player Major Dhyan Chand, but the date has not remained consistent since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when the ceremony was conducted virtually.

How did the 2025 Arjuna list differ from 2024?

In 2024, a record 32 athletes were conferred the Arjuna Award, including 17 from para-sports. In 2025, only 17 Arjuna awardees were chosen, with only two names from para-sports making the final cut: para club thrower Ekta Bhyan, who won gold at the 2024 para world championships, and para-shooter Rudransh Khandelwal, a 2024 Para World Cup gold-medallist. No cricketer was included, continuing the pattern since 2023.