The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has announced the National Sports Awards 2025, with 17 sportspersons named for the Arjuna Award and five coaches selected for the Dronacharya Award.
Notably, no athlete has been selected for the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna, India’s highest sporting honour, making 2025 the first year since 2014 in which the award will not be presented.
National Sports Awards 2025 winners list
Arjuna Award
| Sport | Winner |
|---|---|
| Athletics | Tejaswin Shankar |
| Athletics | Muhammed Ajmal V |
| Athletics | Priyanka Goswami |
| Badminton | Treesa Jolly |
| Badminton | Gayatri Gopichand |
| Boxing | Narender |
| Chess | Vidit Gujrathi |
| Chess | Divya Deshmukh |
| Deaf Shooting | Dhanush Srikanth |
| Hockey | Lalremsiami Hmarzote |
| Hockey | Rajkumar Pal |
| Kabaddi | Surjeet |
| Kabaddi | Pooja |
| Para-Shooting | Rudransh Khandelwal |
| Para-Athletics | Ekta Bhyan |
| Rowing | Arvind Singh |
| Shooting | Akhil Sheoran |
Arjuna Award (Lifetime): I Arumainayagam, football
Dronacharya Award winners
Regular category
- Parveer Singh- Athletics
- Chhote Lal Yadav- Boxing
- Neha Nandkumar Chavan- Shooting
Lifetime category
- Dharmendra Singh Yadav- Boxing
- Virender Kumar- Wrestling
- Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar: Army Paralympic Node, Pune
How much prize money do National Sports Award winners get?
The awards also carry a cash component.
- Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna: ₹25 lakh
- Arjuna Award: ₹15 lakh
- Dronacharya Award (Lifetime): ₹15 lakh
- Dronacharya Award (Regular): ₹10 lakh
- Major Dhyan Chand Award: ₹10 lakh
In addition to the cash prize, awardees receive a statuette/trophy, certificate and ceremonial dress.
That means the 17 Arjuna Award winners announced this year collectively stand to receive ₹2.55 crore in prize money, based on the ₹15 lakh award attached to each Arjuna Award.
The five Dronacharya Award winners account for another ₹65 lakh ₹30 lakh for the three regular-category winners and ₹30 lakh for the two lifetime-category winners. Combined cash outlay across the 22 Arjuna and Dronacharya awardees: ₹3.20 crore.
There is no Khel Ratna cash component to add this year because no sportsperson has been selected for the award.
What else do awardees get?
Beyond the immediate cash prize, the National Sports Awards provide formal recognition that can carry longer-term career benefits. The source material also notes provisions such as up to 5% reservation in direct recruitment for certain central government Group C posts for meritorious sportspersons.
For athletes in less commercial sports, this can be particularly significant because the value of a national award is not limited to the ₹15 lakh cheque. It can strengthen eligibility for government employment and other institutional opportunities.
The 2025 list also underlines the growing breadth of India’s sporting ecosystem, covering athletics, badminton, boxing, chess, shooting, hockey, kabaddi, rowing, football and para-sports.