The Government of India has announced the National Sports Awards 2025, recognising outstanding performances by sportspersons, coaches and institutions across disciplines. The announcement, made on August 18, comes with a notable distinction: no sportsperson has been selected for the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, India’s highest sporting honour, for 2025. This is only the third time since the award’s inception in 1991-92 that the honour has been left without a recipient, following 2008 and 2014.
The Arjuna Awards, however, have recognised a diverse group of athletes. Seventeen sportspersons have been selected for the Arjuna Award for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games. The list includes athletes from athletics, badminton, boxing, chess, hockey, kabaddi, shooting, para-sports and rowing.
Among the prominent names is Tejaswin Shankar, who recently won a bronze medal in the decathlon at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. His selection adds another milestone to a career that has seen him compete at the highest levels in athletics. Chess players Vidit Santosh Gujarathi and Divya Jitendra Deshmukh have also been recognised, reflecting India’s growing strength in the sport.
The badminton world also features prominently, with Treesa Jolly and Pullela Gayatri Gopichand named among the Arjuna awardees. The two have emerged as one of India’s leading women’s doubles combinations. Their recognition comes alongside honours for athletes such as Muhammed Ajmal V and Priyanka Goswami in athletics, boxer Narender and hockey players Lalremsiami and Rajkumar Pal.
The full list of Arjuna Award recipients also includes Dhanush Srikanth in deaf shooting, kabaddi players Surjeet and Pooja, para-shooters Rudransh Khandelwal and Ekta Bhyan, rower Arvind Singh and shooter Akhil Sheoran. The range of disciplines represented highlights the breadth of India’s sporting talent beyond its most visible mainstream sports.
A special Arjuna Award for Lifetime will be presented to veteran footballer and coach I. Arumainayagam, recognising his long-standing contribution to Indian sport.
The awards also recognise the people behind sporting success. Three coaches, Parveer Singh in athletics, Chhote Lal Yadav in boxing and Neha Nandkumar Chavan in shooting, will receive the regular Dronacharya Award. Dharmendra Singh Yadav in boxing and Virender Kumar in wrestling will receive the Dronacharya Award for Lifetime contribution.
Institutional contribution to sports promotion has also been recognised. The Army Paralympic Node, Pune has been selected for the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar for its visible role in promoting and developing sports.
The decision to leave the Khel Ratna vacant is the most striking feature of this year’s awards. The selection committee, headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice (Retd.) Arun Kumar Mishra, considered nominations before making its recommendations. Hockey player Hardik Singh had been among those considered for the country’s top sporting honour but was ultimately not selected.
The Khel Ratna recognises the most spectacular and outstanding sporting performances, while the Arjuna Award honours sustained performance along with qualities of leadership, sportsmanship and discipline. The previous Khel Ratna recipients included shooter Manu Bhaker, chess Grandmaster D. Gukesh, hockey captain Harmanpreet Singh and para-athlete Praveen Kumar.
The National Sports Awards therefore represent more than a list of individual honours. They bring attention to athletes across disciplines, celebrate the contribution of coaches and institutions, and highlight the range of sporting excellence emerging from India. With 17 athletes receiving the Arjuna Award and several coaches and a sporting institution being recognised, the 2025 awards underline the country’s expanding sporting landscape, even as the absence of a Khel Ratna recipient makes this year’s edition particularly unusual.