National Sports Awards: Tejaswin Shankar, Treesa Jolly lead list of 17 Arjuna Award winners

In a series of big developments, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports unveiled the National Sports Awards 2025 on Tuesday, naming 17 athletes with the prestigious Arjuna Award for their achievements. The list features several sporting Indian sporting names, consisting of track and field stars Tejaswin Shankar and Priyanka Goswami, badminton duo of Treesa Jolly and Pullela Gayatri Gopichand, along with hockey players Lalremsiami and Rajkumar Pal.

The announcement came on August 18, Tuesday, following which the awardees were decided on the basis of recommendations made by a selection panel headed by former Supreme Court Judge Justice (Retd.) Arun Kumar Mishra. The committee was stacked with famous sporting figures, veteran journalists and administrators with involvement in Indian sports.

Arjuna awardees

The 17 Arjuna Award winners for 2025 come from a wide range of sports. Athletics is represented by Tejaswin Shankar, Muhammed Ajmal V and Priyanka Goswami, while badminton stars Treesa Jolly and Pullela Gayatri Gopichand have also earned the honour. Chess players Vidit Santosh Gujarathi and Divya Jitendra Deshmukh are included in the lost along with hockey players Lalremsiami and Rajkumar Pal.

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The other recipients are boxer Narender, deaf shooter Dhanush Srikanth, Kabaddi players Surjeet and Pooja, para-shooter Rudransh Khandelwal and para-athlete Ekta Bhyan. Rower Arwind Singh and Shooter Akhil Sheoran.

Lifetime Arjuna awardee

The government has also revealed the recipient of the Arjuna Award (Lifetime), an honour reserved for former athletes who made big contributions during their playing time. Former footballer I Arumainayagam is the only sportsperson to receive the Lifetime Arjuna Award this year. 

Dronacharya Awardees

The Dronacharya Award, which honours coaches for their key contributions towards guding young athletes to make it big at the international stage, has been acrossed regular and lifetime categories. Parveer Singh (athletics) have been named in the regular category, while boxing coach Dharmendra Singh Yadav and wrestling coach Virender Kumar have been recognised with the lifetime award.

Khel Protsahan Purskar awardees

The Army Paralympic Node, Pune, Has been named for the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar 2025, an award given to organisations that have made a key contribution towards the promotion of sports across the nation.

The government had invited applications for the different National Sports Awards through an online portal, letting eligible athletes, coaches and organisations to submit their entries.

Here's the full list of winners: