New Delhi: President Droupadi Murmu officially presented the National Sports Awards 2025 during a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan Friday.
Decathlon athlete Tejaswin Shankar and FIDE World Cup winner Divya Deshmukh, along with thirteen other sportspersons from various disciplines, received the Arjuna Award for outstanding performance in Sports and Games.
Tejaswin Shankar created history at the Commonwealth Games by securing bronze in the decathlon, becoming the first Indian athlete to win a medal in the event at the Games.
Divya stunned the chess world by winning the FIDE Women’s World Cup 2025, becoming the first Indian woman to claim the prestigious title. In the all-Indian final, Divya defeated legendary compatriot Koneru Humpy 1.5–0.5 in the rapid tie-breaks Monday to script a fairytale ending in Baku.
The other Ajuna Awardees are track and field athlete Muhammed Ajmal Variyathodi, race walker Priyanak Goswami, boxer Narender, chess player Vidit Santosh Gujarathi, para shooter Dhanush Srikanth, Lalremsiami Hmarzote (Hockey), Rajkumar Pal (Hockey), Surjeet and Pooja (Kabaddi), Para shooter Rudransh Khandelwal, para athlete Ekta Bhyan, rower Arvind Singh and shooter Akhil Sheoran.
India’s premier women’s badminton doubles pair, Treesa Jolly and Pullela Gayatri Gopichand were not present at the ceremony as the duo are in Japan for the Japan Masters.
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Veteran Indian footballer Isaiah Arumainayagam received the Arjuna Award (Lifetime).
The ‘Arjuna Award (Lifetime)’ is given to honour and motivate those sportspersons who have contributed to sports by their performance and continue to contribute to the promotion of sports even after their retirement from active sporting careers.
Athletics coach Parveer Singh, boxing coaches Chhote Lal Yadav and Dharmendra Singh Yadav, shooting coach Neha Nandkumar Chavan, wrestling coach Virendra Kumar were honoured with the Dronacharya Award.
The ‘Dronacharya Award’ for outstanding coaches in Sports and Games’ is given to coaches for doing outstanding and meritorious work on a consistent basis and for enabling sportspersons to excel in International events.
Baljeet Kaur and Skalzang Rigzin (Land Adventure), Rimo Saha (Water adventure), Shiv Prasad Chamoli (Lifetime achievment) were honoured with the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Awards 2024.
Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Awards (TNNAA) cover four categories — Land Adventure, Water Adventure, Air Adventure and Lifetime Achievement. It recognise outstanding achievements by individuals in the field of adventure and seek to promote a spirit of endurance, risk-taking, teamwork and quick and effective decision-making in challenging situations.
Meanwhile, the Army Paralympic Node, Pune, received the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar. Lt. Col. Daljit Singh received the award from the President.
The award is presented to corporate entities or non-governmental organisations for their significant contribution to the promotion and development of sports.
The ‘Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar’ is given to corporate entity (public/private) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) who have played a visible role in the area of sports promotion and development.
The National Sports Awards are conferred every year to recognise and reward excellence in sports. Based on the recommendations of the Selection Committee chaired by a former Judge of the Supreme Court of India, Justice (Retd.) Arun Kumar Mishra, the Sports Ministry announced the final list of 2025 awardees August 18.
A large number of applications were received for these awards this year, which were considered by the Selection Committee headed by Justice (Retd.) Mishra, and consisting members from eminent sportspersons, persons having experience in sports journalism and sports administrators.
Notably, the award ceremony got delayed by more than a year. As per the Sports Ministry’s scheme, “The Awards will be conferred in a ceremony by the President of India, ordinarily August 29, the birthday anniversary of Late Major Dhyan Chand.
However, during the years when Olympic Games, Commonwealth and Asian Games are held, “the date of award ceremony will be finalised, keeping in view the closing dates of these Games and in consultation with the Secretariat of the President of India.”
