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 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 and 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 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 147 awards were presented in the 1990s thirteen in 1990, followed by eight in 1991, seven in 1992, ten in 1993, eight in 1994, nine in 1995, eighteen in 1996, twenty-one in 1997, thirty in 1998 and twenty-three in 1999. Individuals from twenty-nine different sports were awarded, which includes twenty-one from hockey, twenty from athletics, eleven from kabaddi, nine each from boxing, cricket, shooting and weightlifting, eight from wrestling, four each from badminton, golf, judo, lawn tennis, rowing, swimming and yachting, three each from table tennis and volleyball, two each from archery, football and squash, and one each from basketball, billiards & snooker, bodybuilding, carrom, chess, equestrian, gymnastics, kho kho and powerlifting.
Amongst the notable winners was Leander Paes (awarded in 1990), considered one of the greatest doubles players in tennis history. He won eight Grand Slam doubles titles and ten Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. He also won the bronze medal in men's single tennis at 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, being the first Indian individual medal winner at Olympics since 1952. Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar (awarded in 1994), considered one of the greatest batsmen of all time according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, was the first cricketer to score 100 centuries in international competition. He is also the highest run scorer of all time in International cricket and the first sportsperson to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award in 2014. Dhanraj Pillay (awarded in 1995), was a field hockey player and the captain of the India national team. He is regarded as one of best Indian players of all times, having made three hundred and thirty-nine appearances for the national team and having scored a hundred and seventy goals. Another cricketer Rahul Dravid (awarded in 1998), nicknamed The Wall for "the sense of permanence to be found in his batting", is the fourth highest run-scorer in Test cricket and is considered one of the greatest batsmen of all time.
List of recipients
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+ List of Arjuna award recipients, showing the year, sport, and gender Year Recipient Sport Gender1990 Weightlifting Male1990 Swimming Female1990 Weightlifting Female1990 Squash Male1990 Yachting Male1990 Chess Female1990 Lawn Tennis Male1990 Athletics Male1990 Volleyball Male1990 Kabaddi Male1990 Hockey Male1990 Wrestling Male1990 Table Tennis Male1991 Weightlifting Female1991 Badminton Male1991 Archery Male1991 Golf Male1991 Equestrian Male1991 Rowing Male1991 Volleyball Male1991 Boxing Male1992 Powerlifting Male1992 Judo Male1992 Hockey Male1992 Athletics Male1992 Boxing Male1992 Archery Male1992 Wrestling Male1993 Judo Male1993 Wrestling Male1993 Boxing Male1993 Cricket Male1993 Yachting Male1993 Boxing Male1993 Cricket Male1993 Athletics Female1993 Weightlifting Female1993 Shooting Male1994 Rowing Male1994 Athletics Female1994 Weightlifting Female1994 Kabaddi Male1994 Shooting Male1994 Hockey Male1994 Kabaddi Male1994 Cricket Male1995 Lawn Tennis Male1995 Boxing Male1995 Kabaddi Male1995 Athletics Female1995 Hockey Male1995 Cricket Male1995 Hockey Male1995 Athletics Female1995 Athletics Male1996 Hockey Male1996 Athletics Male1996 Kabaddi Male1996 Judo Female1996 Kabaddi Female1996 Badminton Male1996 Athletics & Cricket Male1996 Carrom Male1996 Shooting Male1996 Swimming Male1996 Golf Male1996 Lawn Tennis Male1996 Yachting Male1996 Boxing Male1996 Cricket Male1996 Hockey Male1996 Athletics Female1996 Rowing Male1997 Athletics Female1997 Table Tennis Male1997 Cricket Male1997 Squash Female1997 Lawn Tennis Male1997 Cricket Male1997 Golf Male1997 Wrestling Male1997 Shooting Male1997 Weightlifting Female1997 Athletics & Cricket Male1997 Football Male1997 Billiards & Snooker Male1997 Shooting Male1997 Weightlifting Male1997 Hockey Male1997 Wrestling Male1997 Hockey Male1997 Kabaddi Male1997 Shooting Female1997 Hockey Male1998 Football Male1998 Hockey Male1998 Cricket Male1998 Gymnastics Female1998 Athletics Male1998 Hockey Male1998 Kabaddi Male1998 Hockey Female1998 Athletics Male1998 Cricket Male1998 Kho Kho Female1998 Kabaddi Male1998 Bodybuilding Male1998 Wrestling Male1998 Weightlifting Male1998 Athletics Male1998 Table Tennis Male1998 Badminton Female1998 Hockey Male1998 Hockey Male1998 Swimming Male1998 Shooting Male1998 Hockey Male1998 Boxing Male1998 Judo Male1998 Athletics Female1998 Athletics Male1998 Wrestling Male1998 Hockey Female1998 Shooting Female1999 Athletics Male1999 Athletics Male1999 Basketball Male1999 Badminton Male1999 Athletics Female1999 Hockey Male1999 Hockey Male1999 Wrestling Male1999 Boxing Male1999 Swimming Female1999 Yachting Male1999 Hockey Male1999 Kabaddi Male1999 Athletics Female1999 Kabaddi Male1999 Weightlifting Male1999 Boxing Male1999 Rowing Male1999 Golf Male1999 Hockey Male1999 Volleyball Male1999 Shooting Male1999 Athletics Male
Explanatory notes
References
External links Official website