The National Sports Awards 2023 were presented by the honourable President, Droupati Murmu, on January 9, 2024, at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Typically, the National Sports Awards ceremony is held on August 29 to honour the birth anniversary of the hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand. However, it was postponed to January 9 due to the Hangzhou Asian Games, which took place from September 23rd to October 8th last year.
Annually, the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports announces The National Sports Awards to acknowledge and honour sports personalities. Six awards will be presented under the National Sports Awards: the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, the Arjuna Award, the Dronacharya Award in the regular category, the Dronacharya Award in the lifetime category, the Dhyan Chand Award for Lifetime Achievement, and the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy.
Several prominent athletes such as cricketer Mohammed Shami, para-archer Sheetal Devi, runner Parul Chaudhary, and wrestler Antim Panghal were present to receive the awards.
However, Khel Ratna winners Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were unable to attend the event due to their participation in the ongoing Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur. Similarly, Shooter Esha Singh, an Arjuna Awardee, is presently in Jakarta for the rifle and pistol Asian Olympic qualifiers, which prevented her from attending the award ceremony. It’s worth noting that on Monday, Esha secured the women’s 10m air pistol gold medal in Jakarta, securing a spot for India in the Paris 2024 Olympic quota.
National Sports Awards 2023 winners – Full List
Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award
- Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (badminton)
- Chirag Shetty (badminton)
Arjuna Award
- Ojas Pravin Deotale (archery)
- Aditi Swami (archery)
- Sheetal Devi (para archery)
- M Sreeshankar (athletics)
- Parul Chaudhary (athletics)
- Mohammad Hussamuddin (boxing)
- R Vaishali (chess)
- Mohammed Shami (cricket)
- Illuri Ajay Kumar Reddy (blind cricket)
- Anush Agarwalla (equestrian)
- Divyakriti Singh (equestrian dressage)
- Diksha Dagar (golf)
- Krishan Bahadur Pathak (hockey)
- Pukhrambam 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 Panghal (wrestling)
- Naorem Roshibina Devi (wushu)
- Prachi Yadav (para canoeing)
Dronacharya Award Regular Category
- Ganesh Prabhakaran (Mallakhamb)
- Mahavir Saini (para athletics)
- Lalit Kumar (wrestling)
- RB Ramesh (chess)
- Shivendra Singh (hockey)
Dronacharya Award Lifetime Category
- Jaskirat Singh Grewal (golf)
- Bhaskaran E (kabaddi)
- Jayanta Kumar Pushilal (table tennis)
Dhyan Chand Award for Lifetime Achievement
- Kavitha Selvaraj (kabaddi)
- Manjusha Kanwar (badminton)
- Vineet Kumar Sharma (hockey)
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy 2023
- Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar (Winner)
- Lovely Professional University, Punjab (1st runner-up)
- Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra (2nd runner-up)
Let’s congratulate all the winners and wish them success in their future careers.