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Current Affairs in News
National Sports Awards 2023

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National Sports Awards 2023

Introduction

 National Sports Awards are the pinnacle of sporting honours in the Republic of India. The
awards are given annually to recognize and reward excellence in sports, highlight
extraordinary performance at the national and international competitive events, encourage
sportsmanship and promote nation-building by creating a sense of national pride and unity in
a country as diverse as India. It promotes qualities like leadership, discipline, commitment,
teamwork and a passion for health and fitness in the psyche of a nation with the world’s
largest youth population. The awards are administered by the Ministry of Youth Affairs &
Sports, Government of India.

Categories

The six categories of the National Sports Awards are:

1. Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award
2. Arjuna Award,
3. Dronacharya Award,
4. Major Dhyan Chand Award,
5. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad rolling Trophy, also called the MAKA Trophy, and
6. Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar
 Since 2004, the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award has also been given out along with
the six National Sports Awards.

Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award

 Considered India’s highest sporting honour, the Khel Ratna was

established in 1991-92.
 The award is named after the Indian hockey legend, Major Dhyan
Chand (1905–79) who is considered to be one of the best players to
have ever played the sport of hockey.
 He was the star of the Indian hockey team that dominated the sport in
the years before World War II.
 He played a key role in India’s three consecutive gold hauls at the
Olympic Games - in 1928, 1932 and 1936.
 His mastery of the game and ball control was so dazzling that it earned him the epithets 'Hockey
Wizard' and 'The Magician'.
 The award is given for outstanding performances in sports spanning over a period of four years
and the Khel Ratna winners receive a medallion, certificate and a cash prize.
 Legendary sports figures like MC Mary Kom, S. MirabaiChanu, PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Vijender
Singh, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli amongst others have received this highest sporting honour
in the past.

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Major Dhyan Chand representing India for Hockey at the Olympic Games
Pistol shooter Abhinav Bindra, who won the first-ever individual gold medal for India at the
Olympics at Beijing 2008, is the youngest sportsperson to win the Khel Ratna. He won the award in
2001 when he was just 18. Olympic bronze medal-winning weightlifter Karnam Malleswari was the
first Indian woman to receive the Khel Ratna in 1994-95.
In 1991-1992, the first Khel Ratna award1 was presented to chess grandmaster and former world
chess Champion Shri Vishwanathan Anand as well as Shri Geet Sethi who dominated the English
Billiards throughout the 1990s.

Dronacharya Award
 The Dronacharya Award, instituted in 1985, is India’s highest sports
honour for coaches. It is awarded to individuals for producing medal
winners at prestigious international events. This award is named after
Dronacharya or Drona who was Arjuna’s guru or coach in the Indian
epic Mahabharata. Awardees receive a bronze statue of Dronacharya,
a certificate and a cash prize.
 The first woman to win the Dronacharya award was athletics coach
Renu Kohli in 2002. This Award is given for both recent
accomplishments and lifetime contributions.
 Wrestling coach Bhalchandra Bhaskar Bhagwat, boxing mentor Om
Prakash Bharadwaj and legendary athletics coach OM Nambiar, credited for moulding Indian
sprint queen PT Usha’s career, were among the first Dronacharya Award winners in 1985 when
the Dronacharya Award was instituted.

Major Dhyan Chand Award

 Another award named after India’s hockey magician Dhyan Chand.
 Major Dhyan Chand Award represents India’s highest honour for
lifetime achievements in sports. Presented for good performance
and contributing towards the promotion of sports in an individual
capacity since 2002, the winners get a Dhyan Chand statuette, a
certificate and a cash prize. Olympian boxer Shahuraj Birajdar,
Indian men’s hockey team player Ashok Diwan and Aparna Ghosh,

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National Sports Awards 2023
an accomplished player and coach with the Indian women’s basketball team, were the first
recipients of the Major Dhyan Chand Award.
 The first Dhyan Chand award for Lifetime Achievements in Sports and
 Games instituted in 2002 was given to Shahuraj Birajdar for Boxing; Ashok Diwan for Hockey and
Aparna Ghosh for Basketball.

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy (MAKA)

 The oldest National Sports Award in India, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad
Trophy or the MAKA Trophy was instituted in 1956–1957. This award is
named in honour of the Indian freedom fighter and the country’s first
education minister Shri Abul Kalam Azad.
 It is given to an institution or university for top performance in
interuniversity tournaments over the last one year. The reward
comprises a rolling MAKA Trophy that gets passed on to the winner
each year, and a cash prize.
 In 1956-57, the first Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) award was
conferred upon Bombay University for promoting competitive sports,
excellence in sports, and integrating sports and physical fitness in their curriculum.

Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar

 Awarded to organisations or corporates (both private and public) and
individuals for playing a role in the area of sports promotion and
development over the last three years, the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan
Puraskar has been a fixture in the National Sports Awards list since 2009.
 Nominees are decided in four different segments - identification and
nurturing of budding and young talent, encouragement to sports through
corporate social responsibility, employment of sportspersons and sports
welfare measures, and sports for development. Winners from each category
get a citation and a trophy. There can be multiple winners in a single
category in a year.
 The Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar was instituted in 2009. Tata Steel Limited received two
awards for the categories of Community Sports
 Identification and Nurturing of Budding Talent as well as Establishment and Management of
Sports Academies of Excellence on the 29 th August 2009.

Other awards
Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award
 Instituted in 1993-1994, the National Adventure Awards now known as the Tenzing Norgay
 National Adventure Award was presented for the year 1994 in 1995.
 The award in the category of land adventure was given to 19 Indian members of the successful
Indo-Napalese women’s Everest expedition of 1993. It included Bachendri Pal, world’s first
woman to scale Everest twice, Santosh Yadav and Dicky Dolma who at 19 became the world’s
youngest woman to reach Everest. Others included Rita G. Marwah,
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 Chandra Prabha Aitwal, Deepu Sharma, Kunga Bhatia, Radha Devi, Bimla Negi, Savita Martolia,
Suman Kutiyal, Sarla Negi, K Saraswati, Rita Patel, Harsha Panwar, G. Anita Devi, Rajeev Sharma,
Nima Norbu and Baldev Kanwar.
 The Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Hukum Singh for his lifetime commitment to
mountaineering.
 In 2020, the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award was conferred upon seven individuals
including Indian Army's Lieutenants Colonel Servesh Dhadwal and Colonel Amit Bisht. Colonel
Servesh Dhadwal received it for his skydiving activities.

National Sports Awards 2023

 Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports on December 20 announced the National Sports Awards 2023.
The awardees will receive their awards from the President of India at a specially organized
function at Rashtrapati Bhavan on 09 th January, 2024 at 1100 hours.

Selection Process
 The applications were invited online and sportspersons/coaches/entities were permitted to self-
apply through a dedicated Online Portal. A large number of applications/nominations were
received for these awards this year, which were considered by the Selection Committee headed
by Justice A. M. Khanwilkar, Retd. Judge, Supreme Court of India and consisting members from
eminent sportspersons, persons having experience in sports journalism and sports administrators.

S. No. Name of the sportsperson Discipline

1. Shri Chirag Chandrashekhar Shetty Badminton

2. Shri Rankireddy Satwik Sai Raj Badminton

Based on the recommendations of the Committee and after due scrutiny, Government has decided to
confer awards upon the following sportspersons, coaches and entities this year:

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National Sports Awards 2023

Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award 2023

The Award has been conferred to both sportspersons having similar achievements on account of
Team performance.

Arjuna Awards for outstanding performance in Sports and Games 2023

S. No. Name of the sportsperson Discipline

1. Shri Ojas Pravin Deotale Archery
2. Ms Aditi Gopichand Swami Archery
3. Shri Sreeshankar M Athletics
4. Ms Parul Chaudhary Athletics
5. Shri Mohameed Hussamuddin Boxing
6. Ms R Vaishali Chess
7. Shri Mohammed Shami Cricket
8. Shri Anush Agarwalla Equestrian
9. Ms Divyakriti Singh Equestrian Dressage
10. Ms Diksha Dagar Golf
11. Shri Krishan Bahadur Pathak Hockey
12. Ms Pukhrambam Sushila Chanu Hockey
13. Shri Pawan Kumar Kabaddi
14. Ms Ritu Negi Kabaddi
15. Ms Nasreen Kho-Kho
16. Ms Pinki Lawn Bowls
17. Shri Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar Shooting
18. Ms Esha Singh Shooting
19. Shri Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu Squash
20. Ms Ayhika Mukherjee Table Tennis
21. Shri Sunil Kumar Wrestling
22. Ms Antim Wrestling
23. Ms Naorem Roshibina Devi Wushu
24. Ms Sheetal Devi Para Archery
25. Shri Illuri Ajay Kumar Reddy Blind Cricket
26. Ms Prachi Yadav Para Canoeing

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Dronacharya Award for outstanding coaches in Sports and Games 2023

Regular Category:

S. No. Name of the Coach Discipline

1. Shri Lalit Kumar Wrestling
2. Shri R. B. Ramesh Chess
3. Shri Mahaveer Prasad Saini Para Athletics
4. Shri Shivendra Singh Hockey
Shri Ganesh Prabhakar
5. Mallakhamb
Devrukhkar

Lifetime Category:
S.No. Name of the Coach Discipline
1. Shri Jaskirat Singh Grewal Golf
2. Shri Bhaskaran E Kabaddi
3. Shri Jayanta Kumar Pushilal Table Tennis

Dhyan Chand Award for Lifetime achievement in Sports and Games 2023:

S. No. Name of the sportsperson Discipline

1. Ms Manjusha Kanwar Badminton
2. Shri Vineet Kumar Sharma Hockey
3. Ms Kavitha Selvaraj Kabaddi

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