Hyderabad: India celebrates its National Sports Day every year on the 29th August every year to commemorate the birthday of Indian hockey legend Dhyan Chand Singh, who was born on this day in 1905. He won three Olympic gold medals for the country in the years 1928, 1932, and 1936. In his sports career spanning over 22 years, he scored over 400 goals.
National Sports day, which is also known as Rashtriya Khel Divas, is celebrated across the country to create and spread awareness about the importance of sports in everyone’s life.
Interestingly, on the occasion of Sports Day, the President of India confers the National Sports Awards to celebrate the exceptional achievements of Indian athletes. The awards have been divided into four major categories, which are as follow:
- Khel Ratna: This award is given for the most spectacular and outstanding performance by a sportsperson over a period of four years immediately preceding the year during which award is to be given. The awardee is given a medal, a certificate, ceremonial dress and cash prize of Rs 7.50 lakh.
- Arjuna award: This award is presented to a sportsperson who have had good performance consistently for the previous four years at the international level with excellence for the year. The player should also have shown qualities of leadership, sportsmanship and a sense of discipline. The award carries bronze statuette of Arjuna, a scroll and a monetary award of 5 lakh rupees.
- Dronacharya Award: This award is given to honour eminent coaches who have successfully trained sportspersons or teams and enabled them to achieve outstanding results in international competitions. The award carries a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh.
- Dhyan Chand Award: It is given to honour those sportspersons who have contributed through their performance and continue to promote sports even after their retirement. The award carries a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh.
Apart from the above mentioned four awards, the President of India also confers the following awards:
- Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award: This is the highest National award at par with Arjuna award for Adventure sports in India. The award is given in four categories namely, land, water, air adventure and lifetime achievement. The winners receive statuettes, certificates and award money of Rs 5 lakh each.
- Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar: This award is to promote and encourage the involvement of corporates, voluntary organizations, sports control boards in the promotion and development of sports, and NGOs working on sport for development in the country.
- The award is given in four categories, which include a) identifying and nurturing of budding/young talent, b)Encouragement of sports through Corporate Social Responsibility, c) Employment of Sports Persons and Sports Welfare Measures, d) Sport For Development.
- Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy: This trophy was instituted in 1956- 57 as a running trophy by the Ministry of Education, Govt. of India. It is awarded by the President of India each year to a University which has the all-round best performance in sports at Inter-University, national and international competitions.
Now, let's take a look at the list of the awardees:
Khel Ratna: Bajrang Punia (wrestling), Deepa Malik (para-athletics)
Arjuna Award: Tajinder Pal Singh Toor (athletics), Mohammed Anas Yahiya (athletics), S Bhaskaran (bodybuilding), Sonia Lather (boxing), Ravindra Jadeja (cricket), Chinglensana Kangujam (hockey), Ajay Thakur (kabaddi), Gaurav Singh Gill (motorsports), Pramod Bhagat (para sports-badminton), Anjum Moudgil (shooting), Harmeet Rajul Desai (table tennis), Pooja Dhanda (wrestling), Fouaad Mirza (equestrian), Gurpreet Singh Sandhu (football), Poonam Yadav (cricket), Swapna Burman (athletics), Sundar Singh Gurjar (para sports-athletics), Bhamidipati Sai Praneeth (badminton), Simran Singh Shergill (polo).
Dronacharya Award (regular category): Vimal Kumar (badminton), Sandeep Gupta (table tennis), Mohinder Singh Dhillon (athletics).
Dronacharya Award (lifetime category): Mezban Patel (hockey), Rambir Singh Khokar (kabaddi), Sanjay Bhardwaj (cricket).
Dhyan Chand Award: Manuel Fredricks (hockey), Arup Basak (table tennis), Manoj Kumar (wrestling), Nitten Kirrtane (tennis), C Lalremsanga (archery).
Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award: Aparna Kumar (land category), late Dipankar Ghosh (land category), Manikandan K (land category), Prabhat Raju Koli (water category), RameshwerJangra (air category), Wangchuk Sherpa (lifetime category).
Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar: Anantapur Sports Academy, Gagan Narang Sports Promotion Foundation
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy: Panjab University (Chandigarh)
