The Arjuna Award, officially known as the Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the sports honour of the Republic of India. It is awarded annually by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. Before the introduction of the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna in 1991–1992, the Arjuna award was the highest sporting honour of India. , the award comprises "a bronze statuette of Arjuna, certificate, ceremonial dress, and a cash prize of ."
Name The award is named after Arjuna, a character from the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata of ancient India. He is one of the Pandavas, depicted as a skilled archer winning the hand of Draupadi in marriage. In the Kurukshetra War, Lord Krishna becomes his charioteer teaching him the sacred knowledge of Gita. In Hindu mythology, he has been seen as a symbol of hard work, dedication and concentration.
History Instituted in 1961 to honour the outstanding sportspersons of the country, the award over the years has undergone a number of expansions, reviews, and rationalizations. The award was expanded to include all the recognised disciplines in 1977, has introduced indigenous games and physically handicapped categories in 1995 and introduced a lifetime contribution category in 1995 leading to creation of a separate Dhyan Chand Award in 2002. The latest revision in 2018 stipulates that the award is given only to the disciplines included in the events like Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, World Championship and World Cup along with Cricket, Indigenous Games, and Parasports. It also recommends giving only fifteen awards in a year, relaxing in case of excellent performance in major multi-sport events, team sports, across gender and giving at least one award to the physically challenged category.
The nominations for the award are received from all government-recognised National Sports Federations, the Indian Olympic Association, the Sports Authority of India (SAI), the Sports Promotion and Control Boards, the state and the union territory governments and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Arjuna, Dhyan Chand and Dronacharya awardees of the previous years. The recipients are selected by a committee constituted by the Ministry and are honoured for their "good performance in the field of sports over a period of four years" at international level and for having shown "qualities of leadership, sportsmanship and a sense of discipline".
Recipients A total of 178 awards were presented in the 2010s: fifteen in 2010, followed by nineteen in 2011, twenty-five in 2012, fourteen in 2013, sixteen in 2014, seventeen in 2015, sixteen in 2016, seventeen in 2017, twenty in 2018 and nineteen in 2019. Individuals from thirty different sports were awarded, including twenty-seven from athletics, sixteen from wrestling, fifteen from shooting, twelve each from cricket and hockey, eleven each from badminton and boxing, nine from kabaddi, eight from archery, six from table tennis, five each from football and swimming, four each from golf, weightlifting and wushu, three each from billiards & snooker, lawn tennis, polo, squash and volleyball, two each from basketball, chess, gymnastics and rowing, and one each from bodybuilding, equestrian, judo, motor sports, roller skating and yachting.
In the initial list of 2013, triple jumper Renjith Maheshwary was mentioned in the discipline of athletics. However, after reports surfaced of him failing a doping test in 2008, he was denied the award, making him the first person to be recommended by the Sports Ministry and then denied the award on the day of the function. Boxer Manoj Kumar, a gold medalist at the 2010 Commonwealth Games held at Delhi, was initially not on the 2014 awardees list. He filed a case in Delhi High Court and the Sports Ministry was directed by the court to present him with the award. The ministry blamed the issue on mistakenly believing him to be involved in a doping case and presented him with the award in November 2014, instead of at the official ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan in August 2014. Another sportsperson, para-badminton player Raj Kumar, a gold medalist in the 2015 Para-Badminton World Championships in England, approached the Delhi High Court after not being awarded the Arjuna Award in 2016. He finally won the legal battle over having higher points than the other para-athlete awarded, and two years later, in September 2018 was given the award for the year 2016.
List of Recipients +
+ KeyIndicates Para sports
+ List of Arjuna award recipients, showing the year, sport, and gender Year Recipient Sport Gender2010 Athletics Male2010 Yachting Male2010 Volleyball Male2010 Cricket Female2010 Hockey Female2010 Boxing Male2010 Kabaddi Male2010 Football Male2010 Chess Male2010 Swimming Male2010 Athletics Female2010 Shooting Male2010 Athletics Male2010 Hockey Male2010 Wrestling Male2011 Archery Male2011 Football Male2011 Wushu Female2011 Lawn Tennis Male2011 Athletics Male2011 Badminton Female2011 Swimming Male2011 Swimming Male2011 Cricket Male2011 Gymnastics Male2011 Weightlifting Male2011 Kabaddi Male2011 Volleyball Male2011 Shooting Female2011 Hockey Male2011 Wrestling Male2011 Boxing Male2011 Athletics Female2011 Kabaddi Female2012 Weightlifting Female2012 Shooting Male2012 Badminton Male2012 Kabaddi Male2012 Wrestling Male2012 Archery Female2012 Archery Female2012 Athletics Female2012 Billiards & Snooker Male2012 Squash Female2012 Wrestling Female2012 Badminton Female2012 Athletics Female2012 Swimming Male2012 Shooting Female2012 Wushu Male2012 Shooting Male2012 Athletics Male2012 Hockey Male2012 Athletics Female2012 Cricket Male2012 Judo Male2012 Polo Male2012 Wrestling Male2012 Boxing Male2013 Golf Male2013 Boxing Female2013 Squash Female2013 Wrestling Male2013 Table Tennis Female2013 Chess Male2013 Hockey Female2013 Cricket Male2013 Wrestling Female2013 Shooting Female2013 Athletics Male2013 Billiards & Snooker Male2013 Badminton Female2013 Archery Female2014 Squash Female2014 Cricket Male2014 Boxing Male2014 Weightlifting Female2014 Badminton Male2014 Athletics Male2014 Basketball Female2014 Volleyball Male2014 Boxing Male2014 Golf Male2014 Athletics Female2014 Kabaddi Female2014 Wrestling Male2014 Shooting Female2014 Rowing Male2014 Archery Male2015 Kabaddi Male2015 Wushu Female2015 Swimming Male2015 Boxing Male2015 Gymnastics Female2015 Badminton Male2015 Archery Male2015 Wrestling Female2015 Kabaddi Female2015 Athletics Female2015 Wrestling Male2015 Shooting Male2015 Cricket Male2015 Rowing Male2015 Weightlifting Male2015 Hockey Male2015 Roller Skating Male2016 Athletics Female2016 Shooting Female2016 Archery Male2016 Wrestling Male2016 Table Tennis Male2016 Billiards & Snooker Male2016 Badminton Male2016 Athletics Male2016 Football Male2016 Wrestling Female2016 Hockey Male2016 Cricket Male2016 Hockey Female2016 Shooting Male2016 Wrestling Male2016 Boxing Male2017 Table Tennis Male2017 Athletics Male2017 Golf Male2017 Football Female2017 Wrestling Male2017 Cricket Female2017 Athletics Female2017 Lawn Tennis Male2017 Shooting Male2017 Cricket Male2017 Athletics Male2017 Boxing Male2017 Kabaddi Male2017 Basketball Female2017 Hockey Male2017 Archery Female2017 Athletics Male2018 Table Tennis Female2018 Lawn Tennis Male2018 Athletics Male2018 Athletics Female2018 Athletics Male2018 Table Tennis Male2018 Athletics Male2018 Wushu Female2018 Boxing Male2018 Wrestling Male2018 Cricket Female2018 Shooting Male2018 Hockey Female2018 Polo Male2018 Badminton Female2018 Badminton Male2018 Shooting Female2018 Golf Male2018 Hockey Male2018 Shooting Female2019 Athletics Male2019 Athletics Female2019 Badminton Male2019 Powerlifting Male2019 Table Tennis Male2019 Boxing Female2019 Motor Sports Male2019 Athletics Male2019 Cricket Male2019 Hockey Male2019 Boxing Female2019 Equestrian Male2019 Shooting Female2019 Badminton Male2019 Football Male2019 Polo Male2019 Kabaddi Male2019 Athletics Male2019 Cricket Female
Explanatory notes
References
External links (official website)