On 18 August 2026, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports announced the National Sports Awards 2025, on the recommendations of a Selection Committee chaired by a former Judge of the Supreme Court of India, Justice (Retd.) Arun Kumar Mishra.
Sports awards are a dependable NDA topic, and they are usually revised badly — as a list of names to be forgotten within a week. The durable material is the category structure: what each award is for. That does not change year to year, and it is what most questions actually test.
What was announced
Arjuna Awards for outstanding performance in Sports and Games (17)
| Discipline | Awardees |
|---|---|
| Athletics | Tejaswin Shankar · Muhammed Ajmal V · Priyanka Goswami |
| Badminton | Treesa Jolly · Pullela Gayatri Gopichand |
| Boxing | Narender |
| Chess | Vidit Santosh Gujarathi · Divya Jitendra Deshmukh |
| Deaf shooting | Dhanush Srikanth |
| Hockey | Lalremsiami · Rajkumar Pal |
| Kabaddi | Surjeet · Pooja |
| Para-shooting | Rudransh Khandelwal |
| Para athletics | Ekta Bhyan |
| Rowing | Arvind Singh |
| Shooting | Akhil Sheoran |
Arjuna Award (Lifetime) — 1: I Arumainayagam, Football.
Dronacharya Award — Regular (3): Parveer Singh (Athletics) · Chhote Lal Yadav (Boxing) · Neha Nandkumar Chavan (Shooting).
Dronacharya Award — Lifetime (2): Dharmendra Singh Yadav (Boxing) · Virender Kumar (Wrestling).
Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar — 1: the Army Paralympic Node, Pune.
Two features of the list are worth remarking on rather than skimming. Para-sport and deaf sport appear inside the main award list, not as a separate parallel honour — para-shooting, para-athletics and deaf shooting sit alongside every other discipline. And the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar going to the Army Paralympic Node, Pune is a direct point of interest for a defence aspirant: it recognises the armed forces as an institutional developer of para-athletes.
One honest observation. The announcement as released covers the Arjuna, Arjuna (Lifetime), Dronacharya and Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar categories. It does not name a Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna awardee. Note that as it stands rather than assuming one; in an exam, answer what was announced.
The categories — the part that is actually examinable
| Award | For | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna | The highest sporting honour in India | Renamed in 2021 from the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna |
| Arjuna Award | Outstanding performance over the previous four years, with leadership, sportsmanship and discipline | Also has a Lifetime category for those who continue to promote sport after retirement |
| Dronacharya Award | Coaches, for consistent outstanding work enabling athletes to excel internationally | Regular and Lifetime categories |
| Dhyan Chand Award | Lifetime achievement in sports and games | Distinct from the Khel Ratna despite the shared name |
| Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar | Corporate entities and NGOs that have played a visible role in sports promotion | An institutional, not individual, award |
| Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy | The best-performing university in inter-university tournaments | Institutional |
The naming is the trap. Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna is the highest award; the Dhyan Chand Award is a lifetime achievement award. They are different honours with confusingly similar names, and that pair is asked more often than any individual awardee.
Process. Applications are invited online, and sportspersons, coaches and entities may self-apply through a dedicated portal — a change from the older system of nomination by federations alone. The Selection Committee is chaired by a former Supreme Court judge and includes eminent sportspersons, sports journalists and administrators. The judicial chairmanship is deliberate: it is a response to past disputes over selection, and it is the kind of institutional-design detail that makes an answer look informed.
India's sports governance architecture
Placing the awards in a structure is what converts them into a usable answer:
- Sport is a State subject — Entry 33 of the State List. The Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports acts through funding, national schemes and institutions rather than by direct control. This is the single most under-known fact on the topic.
- Sports Authority of India (SAI) — founded 1984, after the 1982 Asian Games in Delhi, to use the Games infrastructure for training.
- Khelo India — launched 2018, for grassroots talent identification, with Youth, University, Winter and Para Games.
- Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) — elite athlete funding, administered through the Mission Olympic Cell.
- National Sports Federations (NSFs) — govern individual sports under the National Sports Development Code.
- Indian Olympic Association (IOA) — sends the Indian contingent to the Olympic and Asian Games.
- National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) and the National Anti-Doping Act, 2022, aligned with WADA; the testing laboratory is the NDTL.
- National Sports Day is observed on 29 August, the birth anniversary of Major Dhyan Chand.
The structural point worth making. India's recurring difficulty has not been identifying talent but retaining and converting it — the gap between a promising junior and a senior international medallist, where funding, coaching continuity and injury management decide outcomes. TOPS and Khelo India are the two ends of that pipeline: identification at one end, elite support at the other. Whether the middle has been fixed is the honest open question, and a far better essay line than a list of medal counts.
🔑 Revision block
The announcement. 18 August 2026 — Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports announced the National Sports Awards 2025, on the recommendation of a Selection Committee chaired by Justice (Retd.) Arun Kumar Mishra, a former Supreme Court judge.
The tally. 17 Arjuna Awards · 1 Arjuna (Lifetime) — I Arumainayagam, Football · 3 Dronacharya (Regular) — Parveer Singh (Athletics), Chhote Lal Yadav (Boxing), Neha Nandkumar Chavan (Shooting) · 2 Dronacharya (Lifetime) — Dharmendra Singh Yadav (Boxing), Virender Kumar (Wrestling) · Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar — Army Paralympic Node, Pune.
Names most likely to be asked. Tejaswin Shankar (athletics) · Treesa Jolly and Pullela Gayatri Gopichand (badminton) · Vidit Santosh Gujarathi and Divya Jitendra Deshmukh (chess) · Lalremsiami and Rajkumar Pal (hockey) · Akhil Sheoran (shooting).
Two features worth noting. Para-sport and deaf sport sit inside the main list, not in a parallel honour. And the institutional award went to an armed forces unit — the Army Paralympic Node, Pune.
Stated honestly: the release does not name a Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna awardee. Answer what was announced.
The categories — the durable material. Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna — India's highest sporting honour, renamed in 2021 from the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna · Arjuna — performance over the previous four years, plus leadership, sportsmanship, discipline; has a Lifetime variant · Dronacharya — coaches, Regular and Lifetime · Dhyan Chand Award — lifetime achievement · Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar — corporates and NGOs, an institutional award · MAKA Trophy — best-performing university.
The naming trap. Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna (highest) versus the Dhyan Chand Award (lifetime achievement) — different honours, similar names, asked more often than any awardee.
Process. Applications invited online with self-application permitted; committee chaired by a former Supreme Court judge, with eminent sportspersons, sports journalists and administrators — judicial chairmanship being a deliberate response to past selection disputes.
The governance architecture. Sport is a State subject — Entry 33, State List (the most under-known fact here) · SAI, 1984, after the 1982 Asian Games · Khelo India, 2018 — Youth, University, Winter and Para Games · TOPS via the Mission Olympic Cell · NSFs under the National Sports Development Code · IOA sends the contingent · NADA and the National Anti-Doping Act, 2022, aligned with WADA; laboratory NDTL · National Sports Day, 29 August, birth anniversary of Major Dhyan Chand.
The structural point, for essay and GD. India's problem has been retention and conversion, not identification — the gap between a promising junior and a senior medallist, where funding, coaching continuity and injury management decide the outcome. Khelo India and TOPS are the two ends of that pipeline; whether the middle is fixed is the open question.
🎯 Practice MCQs
Q1. The Selection Committee for the National Sports Awards 2025 was chaired by: (a) Justice (Retd.) Arun Kumar Mishra (b) the Sports Minister (c) the IOA President (d) the SAI Director General → (a).
Q2. India's highest sporting honour is the: (a) Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna (b) Arjuna Award (c) Dhyan Chand Award (d) Dronacharya Award → (a).
Q3. The Khel Ratna was renamed in: (a) 2021 (b) 2018 (c) 2014 (d) 2022 → (a) — from the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna.
Q4. The Dronacharya Award is given to: (a) coaches (b) athletes (c) corporates (d) universities → (a).
Q5. The Arjuna Award recognises performance over the previous: (a) four years (b) two years (c) one year (d) ten years → (a).
Q6. The Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar is given to: (a) corporate entities and NGOs (b) individual athletes (c) coaches (d) referees → (a) — in 2025 to the Army Paralympic Node, Pune.
Q7. The MAKA Trophy is awarded to the best-performing: (a) university (b) State (c) school (d) sports federation → (a).
Q8. How many Arjuna Awards were announced for 2025? (a) 17 (b) 12 (c) 25 (d) 5 → (a).
Q9. The Arjuna (Lifetime) Award went to a player of: (a) Football (b) Hockey (c) Boxing (d) Chess → (a) — I Arumainayagam.
Q10. Sport in India is: (a) a State subject (b) a Union subject (c) a Concurrent subject (d) not listed → (a) — Entry 33 of the State List.
Q11. The Sports Authority of India was founded in: (a) 1984 (b) 1982 (c) 2001 (d) 1975 → (a) — after the 1982 Asian Games.
Q12. Khelo India was launched in: (a) 2018 (b) 2014 (c) 2021 (d) 2008 → (a).
Q13. TOPS is administered through the: (a) Mission Olympic Cell (b) IOA (c) NADA (d) SAI Board → (a).
Q14. National Sports Day is observed on: (a) 29 August (b) 15 August (c) 23 January (d) 5 September → (a) — Major Dhyan Chand's birth anniversary.
Q15. The National Anti-Doping Act was enacted in: (a) 2022 (b) 2018 (c) 2009 (d) 2016 → (a).
📋 How this gets asked (PYQ pattern)
Sports awards and governance are asked in four ways. The award-purpose item — which award goes to coaches, which to corporates, which is the highest; the Khel Ratna versus Dhyan Chand Award confusion is the single most exploited trap. The renaming item — the 2021 change from Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna to Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna. The institution item — SAI's founding year and its link to the 1982 Asian Games, Khelo India's launch, and NADA's statute. The constitutional item — sport as a State subject, which candidates almost never expect. The fresh 2026 hook is the National Sports Awards 2025 tally and the Army Paralympic Node, Pune as the institutional awardee. We reference the pattern, not any exact past question.
Preparing for NDA or the SSB? Learn the award categories rather than the yearly names — categories are permanent, names are replaced annually, and questions test the former far more often. Follow our daily NDA current affairs and prepare with our faculty in the upcoming Cavalier courses in Delhi.
✍️ Written by Col Vijyanat Thakur — Sports, science & security faculty at The Cavalier. Reviewed by the Cavalier Faculty Desk. The Cavalier, founded by ex-Army officers, has trained NDA/CDS/SSB aspirants since 2001 (Facebook · YouTube).
Source: PIB / Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, 18 August 2026. Facts cross-verified with independent sources.