Tejaswin Shankar headlines the 17 athletes selected for the prestigious Arjuna Awards 2025, with the Sports Ministry announcing the honours on Tuesday, August 18. Notably, no athlete was named for the Khel Ratna award this year.
Shankar was joined on the list by World Cup-winning chess player Divya Deshmukh and badminton player Pullela Gayatri Gopichand. Other notable recipients include chess Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi, Treesa Jolly, who partners Gayatri in women's doubles, Glasgow Commonwealth Games silver medallist boxer Narender, and deaf shooter Dhanush Srikanth.
Former India footballer I Arumainayagam, who was part of the Indian team that won gold at the 1962 Asian Games, was selected for the Arjuna Award under the Lifetime Achievement category.
“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 Government has decided to confer awards on the following sportspersons, coaches and entities under various categories,” the Sports Ministry said in a statement.
Deshmukh became India's fourth woman Grandmaster after winning the FIDE Women's World Cup 2025 in Batumi, Georgia. Shankar, meanwhile, made history at the Commonwealth Games by winning a bronze medal in the decathlon, becoming the first Indian to secure a medal in the event at the Games.
NATIONAL SPORTS AWARDS 2025: FULL LIST OF WINNERS
Arjuna Award 2025
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 Shooting
Lalremsiami – Hockey
Rajkumar Pal – Hockey
Surjeet – Kabaddi
Pooja – Kabaddi
Rudransh Khandelwal – Para-Shooting
Ekta Bhyan – Para Athletics
Arvind Singh – Rowing
Akhil Sheoran – Shooting
Arjuna Award (Lifetime) 2025
I. Arumainayagam – Football
Dronacharya Award 2025 — Regular Category
Parveer Singh – Athletics
Chhote Lal Yadav – Boxing
Neha Nandkumar Chavan – Shooting
Dronacharya Award 2025 — Lifetime Category
Dharmendra Singh Yadav – Boxing
Virender Kumar – Wrestling
Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar 2025
Army Paralympic Node, Pune – Sports Promotion and Development
WHY WERE THE ARJUNA AWARDS DELAYED?
The delay in announcing the National Sports Awards had caused growing concern within India's sporting community. The annual honours, which recognise outstanding achievements across various disciplines, had not been officially announced despite the selection committee submitting its recommendations roughly six months earlier.
The Sports Ministry, which has the final authority to approve the recommendations, attributed the delay to an additional review of the Arjuna Award selections.
Ministry sources said the scrutiny was intended to “preserve the integrity of the awards”. However, the prolonged wait had caused frustration among athletes awaiting formal confirmation.
“It is unfortunate that no announcement has come so far. It is de-motivating for the athletes, especially because unofficially most people come to know whether they have been shortlisted or not,” an Olympic medallist and Khel Ratna recipient told PTI.
The National Sports Awards ceremony is traditionally held at Rashtrapati Bhavan, although its date has varied in recent years.
For many years, August 29 was the customary date, coinciding with National Sports Day and the birth anniversary of legendary hockey player Major Dhyan Chand.
That practice changed in 2020, when the awards were presented virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, the ceremony has generally been scheduled according to the sporting calendar rather than being fixed to a particular date.
The awards have also been postponed on several occasions to accommodate the Olympics and other major multi-sport events. In 2025, for example, the ceremony was eventually held on January 17, several months after the traditional August 29 date.
