The Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports (MYAS) has unveiled the recipients of the 2024 National Sports Awards, with D Gukesh, Manu Bhaker, Harmanpreet Singh, and Praveen Kumar being honored with the highest award. (More Sports News)
The awards ceremony will take place at Rashtrapati Bhavan on January 17, 2025, where the President of India will present the honors.
After a comprehensive review and based on committee recommendations, the government has chosen the following sportspersons, coaches, universities, and entities for recognition.
The 18-year-old Gukesh became the youngest-ever World Chess Champion and played a key role in securing a historic gold for the Indian team at the Chess Olympiad last year.
The fourth recipient, para high-jumper Praveen Kumar, was crowned T64 champion at the Paris Paralympics. The T64 classification is for athletes who have one or both legs amputated below the knee and use a prosthetic leg to compete.
Khel Ratna awardees receive a cash prize of ₹25 lakh, along with a citation and a medallion. Arjuna awardees are honored with a cash reward of ₹15 lakh, a statuette of Arjuna, and a citation.
Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna -
Gukesh D (Chess)
Harmanpreet Singh (Hockey)
Praveen Kumar (Para-Athletics)
Manu Bhakar (Shooting)
Arjuna Awards -
Jyothi Yarraji (Athletics)
Annu Rani (Athletics)
Nitu (Boxing)
Saweety (Boxing)
Vantika Agrawal (Chess)
Salima Tete (Hockey)
Abhishek (Hockey)
Sanjay (Hockey)
Jarmanpreet Singh (Hockey)
Sukhjeet Singh (Hockey)
Rakesh Kumar (Para-Archery)
Preeti Pal (Para-Athletics)
Jeevanji Deepthi (Para-Athletics)
Ajeet Singh (Para-Athletics)
Sachin Sarjerao Khilari (Para-Athletics)
Dharambir (Para-Athletics)
Pranav Soorma (Para-Athletics)
H Hokato Sema (Para-Athletics)
Simran (Para-Athletics)
Navdeep (Para-Athletics)
Nitesh Kumar (Para-Badminton)
Thulasimathi Murugesan (Para-Athletics)
Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan (Para-Badminton)
Manisha Ramadass (Para-Badminton)
Kapil Parmar (Para-Judo)
Mona Agarwal (Para-Shooting)
Rubina Francis (Para-Shooting)
Swapnil Suresh Kusale (Shooting)
Sarabjot Singh (Shooting)
Abhay Singh (Squash)
Sajan Prakash (Swimming)
Aman Sehrawat (Wrestling)
Arjuna Awards (Lifetime)
Sucha Singh (Athletics)
Murlikant Rajaram Petkar (Para-Swimming)
Dronacharya Award (Regular)
Subhash Rana (Para-Shooting)
Deepali Deshpande (Shooting)
Sandeep Sangwan (Hockey)
Dronacharya Award (Lifetime)
S Muralidharan (Badminton)
Armando Agnelo Colaco (Football)
The first recipient of the award was chess Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand, honored for his performance in 1991–92. In 2001, shooter Abhinav Bindra, at the age of 18, became the youngest recipient of the award.
In 2023, the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award was presented to Chirag Shetty and Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy (badminton).
