TNI Bureau: The Union Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports on Wednesday announced the National Sports Awards 2023. While two Badminton stars have been selected for the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, a total of 26 sports persons have been chosen for the Arjuna Awards for their outstanding performance in Sports and Games 2023.
A special will be organised at Rashtrapati Bhavan on January 9, 2024 (Tuesday) during which President Droupadi Murmu will give away the awards.
Check the full list of the awardees of the National Sports Awards 2023:
Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award 2023:
- Chirag Chandrashekhar Shetty for Badminton
- Rankireddy Satwik Sai Raj for Badminton
Arjuna Awards for outstanding performance in Sports and Games 2023:
- Ojas Pravin Deotale: Archery
- Aditi Gopichand Swami: Archery
- Sreeshankar M: Athletics
- Parul Chaudhary: Athletics
- Mohameed Hussamuddin: Boxing
- R Vaishali: Chess
- Mohammed Shami: Cricket
- Anush Agarwalla: Equestrian
- Divyakriti Singh: Equestrian Dressage
- Diksha Dagar: Golf
- Krishan Bahadur Pathak: HockeyP
- Pukhrambam Sushila Chanu: Hockey
- Pawan Kumar: Kabaddi
- Ritu Negi: Kabaddi
- Nasreen: Kho-Kho
- Pinki: Lawn Bowls
- Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar: Shooting
- Esha Singh: ShootingH
- Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu: Squash
- Ayhika Mukherjee: Table Tennis
- Sunil Kumar: Wrestling
- Antim: Wrestling
- Naorem Roshibina Devi: Wushu
- Sheetal Devi: Para Archery
- Illuri Ajay Kumar Reddy: Blind Cricket
- Prachi Yadav: Para Canoeing
Dronacharya Award for outstanding coaches in Sports and Games 2023:
- Lalit Kumar: Wrestling
- B. Ramesh: Chess
- Mahaveer Prasad Saini: Para Athletics
- Shivendra Singh: Hockey
- Ganesh Prabhakar Devrukhkar: Mallakhamb
- Jaskirat Singh Grewal: Golf
- Bhaskaran E: Kabaddi
- Jayanta Kumar Pushilal: Table Tennis
Dhyan Chand Award for Lifetime achievement in Sports and Games 2023:
- Manjusha Kanwar: Badminton
- Vineet Kumar Sharma: Hockey
- Kavitha Selvaraj: Kabaddi
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy 2023:
- Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar: Overall winner university
- Lovely Professional University, Punjab: 1st runner up University
- Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra: 2nd runner up University
It is to be noted here that the National Sports Awards are given every year to recognize and reward excellence in sports.
‘Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award’ is given for the spectacular and most outstanding performance in the field of sports by a sportsperson over the period of the previous four years.
‘Arjuna Award for outstanding performance in Sports and Games’ is given for good performance over a period of the previous four years and for showing qualities of leadership, sportsmanship and a sense of discipline.
‘Dronacharya Award for outstanding coaches in Sports and Games’ is given to coaches for doing outstanding and meritorious work on a consistent basis and for enabling sportspersons to excel in International events.
‘Dhyan Chand Award for Lifetime achievement in Sports and Games’ is given to honour sportspersons who have contributed to sports by their performance and who continue to contribute to promotion of sports event after their retirement.
The overall top performing university in inter-university tournaments is given the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy.