The Arjuna Award, officially known as the Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is a sports honour of the Republic of India. It is awarded annually by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. Before the introduction of the Rajiv Gandhi 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 away of 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 95 individual awards were presented in the 1960s: twenty in 1961, followed by nine in 1962, seven in 1963, seven in 1964, seven in 1965, thirteen in 1966, fifteen in 1967, seven in 1968, and ten in 1969. Individuals from twenty-one different sports were awarded, which include thirteen from hockey, twelve from athletics, eight from football, seven each from cricket and wrestling, six from weightlifting, five each from badminton and table tennis, four each from basketball, boxing, lawn tennis and swimming, three each from golf, polo and shooting, two each from squash and volleyball, and one each from billiards & snooker, chess and gymnastics. In an unusual move, the first and only team award to date was presented to the entire team of twenty mountaineers in 1965 representing the successful Indian Everest expedition of 1965.

Amongst the notable winners was Manuel Aaron, awarded in 1961. He was India's first chess International Master (IM). He obtained the title in 1961 and India did not produce a second IM for the next seventeen years. He dominated the chess in India, becoming national champion nine times between 1959 and 1981. Hockey players Charanjit Singh and Shankar Lakshman were awarded in 1963 and 1964 respectively. The former was the captain of the gold winning Indian men's hockey team at 1964 Summer Olympics at Tokyo. The latter was the goalkeeper of the Indian team in the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Olympics, helping the team win two gold medals and one silver medal.

List of recipients +

+ List of Arjuna award recipients, showing the year, sport, and gender Year Recipient Sport Gender1961 Chess Male1961 Football Male1961 Wrestling Male1961 Boxing Male1961 Cricket Male1961 Weightlifting Male1961 Squash Male1961 Lawn Tennis Male1961 Gymnastics Male1961 Hockey Female1961 Badminton Male1961 Volleyball Male1961 Swimming Male1961 Athletics Male1961 Golf Male1961 Shooting Male1961 Polo Male1961 Hockey Male1961 Basketball Male1961 Table Tennis Male1962 Football Male1962 Volleyball Male1962 Weightlifting Male1962 Billiards Male1962 Lawn Tennis Male1962 Boxing Male1962 Badminton Female1962 Wrestling Male1962 Athletics Male1963 Wrestling Male1963 Athletics Female1963 Football Male1963 Golf Male1963 Weightlifting Male1963 Hockey Male1963 Polo Male1964 Table Tennis Male1964 Hockey Male1964 Cricket Male1964 Wrestling Male1964 Polo Male1964 Football Male1964 Athletics Male1965 Weightlifting Male1965 Hockey Female1965 Football Male1965 Badminton Male1965 Cricket Male1965 Athletics Male1965 Hockey Male1966 Athletics Male1966 Cricket Male1966 Table Tennis Female1966 Swimming Female1966 Weightlifting Male1966 Football Male1966 Lawn Tennis Male1966 Hockey Male1966 Hockey Female1966 Athletics Male1966 Wrestling Male1966 Hockey Male1966 Boxing Male1967 Weightlifting Male1967 Badminton Male1967 Table Tennis Male1967 Hockey Male1967 Lawn Tennis Male1967 Golf Male1967 Basketball Male1967 Swimming Male1967 Athletics Male1967 Hockey Male1967 Hockey Male1967 Wrestling Male1967 Athletics Male1967 Football Male1967 Cricket Male1968 Hockey Male1968 Shooting Female1968 Cricket Male1968 Basketball Male1968 Athletics Male1968 Boxing Male1968 Athletics Female1969 Table Tennis Male1969 Cricket Male1969 Basketball Male1969 Badminton Male1969 Shooting Female1969 Swimming Male1969 Squash Male1969 Wrestling Male1969 Athletics Male1969 Football Male

An Indian postage stamp (pictured) commemorated Indian's first successful Everest Expedition in 1965 (awarded team award in 1965). Avtar Singh Cheema and Nawang Gombu as seen here reached the summit in the morning of 19 May 1965. India in a single expedition placed nine men on the top of Everest, an unbroken record for the next 17 years.

+ List of Arjuna team award recipients, showing the year, event, and gender Year Recipient Event Gender1965 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male1965 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male1965 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male1965 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male1965 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male1965 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male1965 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male1965 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male1965 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male1965 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male1965 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male1965 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male1965 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male1965 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male1965 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male1965 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male1965 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male1965 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male1965 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male1965 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male

Explanatory notes

References

External links Official website