National Sports Awards 2023: Khel Ratna for Satwik-Chirag, Arjuna for 26 - See Full List

The Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports announced the National Sports Awards 2023 on Wednesday. The awards ceremony, where President Droupadi Murmu will confer the honours, is scheduled to take place at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on 9 January 2024 (Tuesday) at 11:00 hours.

National Sports Awards are given every year to recognize and reward excellence in sports.

'Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award' is given for the spectacular and most outstanding performance in the field of sports by a sportsperson over the period of the previous four years.

'Arjuna Award for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games' is given for good performance over a period of the previous four years and for showing qualities of leadership, sportsmanship and a sense of discipline.

'Dronacharya Award for outstanding coaches in Sports and Games' is given to coaches for doing outstanding and meritorious work on a consistent basis and for enabling sportspersons to excel in International events.

'Dhyan Chand Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sports and Games' is given to honour sportspersons who have contributed to sports through their performance and who continue to contribute to the promotion of sports events after their retirement.

The overall top-performing university in inter-university tournaments is given the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy.

The applications were invited online and sportspersons/coaches/entities were permitted to self-apply through a dedicated Online Portal. A large number of applications/nominations were received for these awards this year, which were considered by the Selection Committee headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar, Retd. Judge, Supreme Court of India and consisting of members from eminent sportspersons, persons having experience in sports journalism and sports administrators.

Asian Games gold medallists, World Championships bronze winners, and Commonwealth Games gold medallists Satwik and Chirag will be honoured with the Khel Ratna. 26 sports personalities, including Long jumper Murali Sreeshankar will get Arjuna award.

List of National Sports Award winners:

Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award for 2023:

Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty (badminton).

Arjuna Awards for 2023:

Ojas Pravin Deotale (archery)

Aditi Gopichand Swami (archery)

Murali Sreeshankar (athletics)

Parul Chaudhary (athletics)

Mohameed Hussamuddin (boxing)

R Vaishali (chess)

Mohammed Shami (cricket)

Diksha Dagar (golf)

Anush Agarwalla (equestrian)

Divyakriti Singh (equestrian dressage)

Krishan Bahadur Pathak (hockey)

Sushila Chanu (hockey)

Pawan Kumar (kabaddi)

Ritu Negi (kabaddi)

Nasreen (kho-kho)

Pinki (lawn bowls)

Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar (shooting)

Esha Singh (shooting)

Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (squash)

Ayhika Mukherjee (table tennis)

Sunil Kumar (wrestling)

Antim (wrestling)

Naorem Roshibina Devi (wushu)

Sheetal Devi (para archery)

Illuri Ajay Kumar Reddy (blind cricket)

Prachi Yadav (para canoeing)

Dronacharya Award (Regular Category) for outstanding coaches:

Lalit Kumar (wrestling)

RB Ramesh (chess)

Mahaveer Prasad Saini (para athletics)

Shivendra Singh (hockey)

Ganesh Prabhakar Devrukhkar (mallakhamb)

Dronacharya Award (Lifetime Category) for outstanding coaches:

Jaskirat Singh Grewal (golf)

Bhaskaran E (kabaddi)

Jayanta Kumar Pushilal (table tennis)

Dhyan Chand Award for Lifetime Achievement:

Manjusha Kanwar (badminton)

Kavitha Selvaraj (kabaddi)

Vineet Kumar Sharma (hockey)

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy 2023:

Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar (overall winner university)

Lovely Professional University, Punjab (1st runner-up)

Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra (2nd runner-up)