3 min readApr 13, 2026 05:33 PM IST
The National Sports Awards have been delayed this year, as the Sports Ministry wants to re-evaluate the process of giving the Arjuna awards to ensure that only the deserving athletes get the honour. Despite the awards selection committee giving its recommendations in December last year, the ministry has held the names and is re-assessing the recommendations.
“The list of Arjuna award recommendations is being re-evaluated right now. The value of these awards should not get diminished, that’s the goal. We want to follow a stringent process of selection,” a Sports Ministry source close to the development said on Monday.
As per the ministry source, in the past, a few of these awards have gone to athletes who didn’t deserve the recognition. “It shouldn’t be the case that every other athlete is an Arjuna Awardee and when you ask them about their accomplishments, there is nothing much to show. The prestige of the award needs to be maintained. And also the number of litigations that come out in some cases is outrageous,” the source said, referring to the instances when athletes drag ministry to the court.
According to a source, the awards committee had nominated 24 athletes for the Arjuna Award, continuing the trend of the growing number of recipients for the award in the last few years. In the 2010-2019 decade, there was only one instance of more than 20 recipients of the award but 32 athletes received the award in 2024 only.
The ministry’s opinion on the matter is that instead of selection panel there should be a clear criteria with points to ensure only worthy athletes are nominated.
“It’s like the prize money, if you have won an Olympic medal, you shouldn’t have to fill a form to get your Rs 75 lakh prize money. The system just knows and transfers the money suitably. Similarly, an athlete who has achieved the requisite shouldn’t have to be evaluated again by a panel,” said the source.
The awards were traditionally presented on August 29, the birth anniversary of hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand, by the President. However, this tradition has not been followed in the past few years due to scheduling issues and the process of nominations getting affected by major events.
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