Sri Vijaya Puram, November 13: The presentation of the National Sports Awards for 2025 took place more than a year later than the date ordinarily prescribed for the annual ceremony, with President Droupadi Murmu conferring honours on athletes, coaches and organisations at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Friday. The awards recognised performances across several disciplines, contributions to coaching and efforts to promote sports in the country.
Decathlon athlete Tejaswin Shankar and chess player Divya Deshmukh were among the recipients of the Arjuna Award for outstanding performance in sports. Shankar became the first Indian to win a Commonwealth Games medal in the decathlon after securing bronze, while Deshmukh won the 2025 FIDE Women’s World Cup, becoming the first Indian woman to claim the title. She defeated Koneru Humpy 1.5–0.5 in the rapid tie-breaks in an all-Indian final in Baku.
The other Arjuna Award recipients were track and field athlete Muhammed Ajmal Variyathodi, race walker Priyanak Goswami, boxer Narender, chess player Vidit Santosh Gujarathi, para shooter Dhanush Srikanth, hockey players Lalremsiami Hmarzote and Rajkumar Pal, kabaddi players Surjeet and Pooja, para shooter Rudransh Khandelwal, para athlete Ekta Bhyan, rower Arvind Singh and shooter Akhil Sheoran. Badminton players Treesa Jolly and Pullela Gayatri Gopichand were absent as they were in Japan for the Japan Masters.
Veteran footballer Isaiah Arumainayagam received the Arjuna Award for Lifetime Achievement, which recognises sustained contributions to sport during and after an active competitive career.
The Dronacharya Awards for coaching went to athletics coach Parveer Singh, boxing coaches Chhote Lal Yadav and Dharmendra Singh Yadav, shooting coach Neha Nandkumar Chavan and wrestling coach Virendra Kumar. The awards recognise coaches whose consistent work has helped athletes excel in international competitions.
The Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Awards 2024 were presented to Baljeet Kaur and Skalzang Rigzin in the land adventure category, Rimo Saha for water adventure and Shiv Prasad Chamoli for lifetime achievement. The awards cover land, water and air adventure, besides lifetime achievement.
The Army Paralympic Node, Pune, received the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar for its contribution to sports promotion and development. Lieutenant Colonel Daljit Singh accepted the award on its behalf.
The Sports Ministry had announced the 2025 awardees on August 18, following recommendations from a selection committee chaired by former Supreme Court judge Arun Kumar Mishra. The committee included sportspersons, sports journalists and administrators.
Under the Sports Ministry’s scheme, the awards are ordinarily presented on August 29, the birth anniversary of hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand. In years when the Olympic, Commonwealth or Asian Games take place, the ceremony date may be adjusted in consultation with the President’s Secretariat.
