Sports Current Affairs | 14 November 2026 | Award reference
The President of India, Droupadi Murmu, presented the Sports and Adventure Awards at Rashtrapati Bhavan on 13 November 2026. The ceremony included the National Sports Awards 2025 and the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Awards 2024. The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports announced the National Sports Awards 2025 on 18 August after a selection committee chaired by Justice (Retd.) Arun Kumar Mishra considered applications and recommendations.
Arjuna Awards 2025: awardees and disciplines
The Arjuna Award recognises outstanding sporting performance over the preceding four years along with leadership, sportsmanship and discipline. The 2025 awardees announced by the ministry were:
- Athletics: Tejaswin Shankar, Muhammed Ajmal V and Priyanka Goswami.
- Badminton: Treesa Jolly and Pullela Gayatri Gopichand.
- Boxing: Narender.
- Chess: Vidit Santosh Gujarathi and Divya Jitendra Deshmukh.
- Deaf shooting: Dhanush Srikanth.
- Hockey: Lalremsiami and Rajkumar Pal.
- Kabaddi: Surjeet and Pooja.
- Para-shooting: Rudransh Khandelwal.
- Para-athletics: Ekta Bhyan.
- Rowing: Arvind Singh.
- Shooting: Akhil Sheoran.
Arjuna Award (Lifetime): Shri Isaiah Arumainayagam (football). The lifetime category recognises former sportspersons who continue to contribute to the promotion of sport after active competition.
Dronacharya Awards 2025
The Dronacharya Award honours coaches whose sustained and meritorious work enables athletes to excel internationally. Regular-category recipients announced for 2025 were Parveer Singh (athletics), Chhote Lal Yadav (boxing) and Neha Nandkumar Chavan (shooting). Lifetime-category recipients were Dharmendra Singh Yadav (boxing) and Virender Kumar (wrestling).
Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar
The Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar recognises organisations that have played a visible role in promoting and developing sport. For 2025, the awardee was Army Paralympic Node, Pune. This institutional award is distinct from an individual athlete’s Arjuna Award or a coach’s Dronacharya Award.
How the categories differ
- Arjuna Award: athlete’s performance, leadership, sportsmanship and discipline.
- Arjuna Award (Lifetime): sustained contribution by a retired sportsperson to sport and its promotion.
- Dronacharya Award: excellence and consistent contribution by coaches.
- Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar: contribution by institutions/organisations to sports development.
- Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award: outstanding achievement in adventure activities; it is not the same as Arjuna/Dronacharya categories.
The ceremony also presented the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Awards 2024: Skalzang Rigzin and Baljeet Kaur (land adventure), Rimo Saha (water adventure) and Shiv Prasad Chamoli (Lifetime Achievement). Rigzin climbed Lhotse, Annapurna and Everest; Kaur climbed seven major peaks during 2022–24; Saha completed major open-water crossings; Chamoli led landmark Himalayan and rafting expeditions. The award year and presentation year can differ; preserve the year specified in the official announcement.
Exam relevance
For SSC, banking and State PSC, remember the award–purpose–recipient distinction and match selected athletes with their discipline. For UPSC, the awards connect to sports governance, talent development, coaching, inclusion and support for para-athletes. Army Paralympic Node, Pune is a useful institutional fact. Do not call the Arjuna Award India’s highest sporting honour: the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna is the country’s highest sporting award.
Official sources
- President’s Secretariat: Sports and Adventure Awards ceremony, 13 November 2026
- Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports: National Sports Awards 2025 awardees, 18 August 2026
- Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports
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