Posted on August 18, 2026
The sports fraternity in India is getting recognition once again as the National Sports Awards for 2025 have been declared. The awardees have been declared by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports on 18 August 2026, in recognition of the achievements and performance of athletes, coaches and organizations in Indian sport. There will be 17 recipients of the Arjuna Award, one Arjuna Award for Lifetime Achievement, five Dronacharya Award recipients, and Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar.
The National Sports Awards 2025 bring out the ever-increasing depth in Indian sport which extends far beyond the dominant sports. Athletics, badminton, boxing, chess, hockey, kabaddi, para-sport, rowing, shooting and deaf shooting are just some of the many sports whose athletes have found their names on the list of this year’s National Sports Awards.
National Sports Awards 2025: Arjuna Award Winners and Full List
The Arjuna Award is one of India’s prestigious awards for sportspersons, recognizing their excellent performance and continuous success. The current roster has several international sportspersons who have achieved fame along with some athletes from upcoming sports.
The 17 Arjuna Award recipients for 2025 are:
- 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
The names in the list cover all sorts of sporting disciplines, indicating the diversity of high-performing sports in India. Among the famous names mentioned are Vidit Gujarathi and Divya Deshmukh in the chess team, while Tejaswin Shankar and Priyanka Goswami are names representing India in the field of athletics. Badminton players, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand have made the list because of their performance in the international circuit.
However, the 2025 Awards include a special award, which goes to Arjuna Award for Lifetime Achievement, and I. Arumainayagam, a footballer and 1962 Asian Games gold medallist makes the list. This shows that this year’s award includes an historical angle of recognition as well since his contributions to Indian sport go back a few decades.
What is special about this year’s awards is the lack of a name among the recipients of Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna, the highest sporting honour in India. The importance of this year’s awards thus lies in the recognition of excellence in a variety of sporting disciplines through Arjuna and coaching awards.
Dronacharya Award, Khel Protsahan Puraskar and Significance
The Dronacharya Award 2025 is an acknowledgment of the achievements made by coaches through their assistance and long-term commitment to athletes, resulting in success at the major games. In the regular category, the selection includes Parveer Singh for athletics, Chhote Lal Yadav for boxing and Neha Nandkumar Chavan for shooting. The Lifetime Achievement category acknowledges Dharmendra Singh Yadav for boxing and Virender Kumar for wrestling.
However, coaches play a very important role in helping to develop great athletes; they help them prepare not just physically but also mentally. Hence, the Dronacharya award serves as a good supplement to the Arjuna awards which are focused on athletes themselves.
In addition, the Army Paralympic Node, Pune, has been chosen for the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar 2025. This award is devoted to the institution that promotes sports development, especially in the para-sports sector.
Overall, the list reflects the trend that Indian sporting is getting more and more inclusive. Para-athletes, deaf athletes, women athletes as well as chess players and rowers, among others, are included, along with athletes from such popular disciplines as athletics, hockey, badminton and shooting.
Apart from being a way to honor individual success, the National Sports Awards can have a much bigger meaning. They can help raise awareness about those sports that are not as popular as others and motivate young athletes to choose competitive career. Moreover, national recognition of their achievements can increase people’s interest, stimulate participation and emphasize the need for development of sports in the country.
The 2025 list is especially important as it reflects the current level of Indian sportsmen’s achievements. From famous athletes to young talents, who managed to make their name in international competitions, all of them took different paths to success. Their success also shows the importance of regular training, good coachings systems, institutional support and international competition experience.
Conclusion
The National Sports Awards of 2025 recognize a range of outstanding Indian sportsmen and women, coaches, and sporting bodies. Among the recipients are 17 Arjuna Award winners, one Lifetime Arjuna Award winner I. Arumainayagam, five Dronacharya Award winners, and the Army Paralympic Node.
In addition to those listed above, the complete list includes a wide range of Indian athletes that play traditional, emerging, para, and adaptive sports. The success and dedication of these sports personalities can be an inspiration for future generations and help India grow in the sporting world.
Stay tuned for the latest information on Indian sports personalities and their accomplishments.