The

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjuna, one ...

, officially known as Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games is a sports honour of

Republic of India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It is awarded annually by the

Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports is a branch of the Government of India which administers the Department of youth affairs and the Department of Sports in India. Anurag Thakur is the current Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports followed ...

. Before the introduction of the

Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna The Khel Ratna Award (), officially known as the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award ( Major Dhyan Chand Sport Jewel Award), is the highest sporting honour of India. It is awarded annually by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Governm ...

in 1991–1992, the Arjuna Award was the highest sporting honour of India. , the award comprises "a

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

statuette of Arjuna, certificate, ceremonial dress, and a cash prize of ".

Name

The award is named after

Arjuna Arjuna (Sanskrit: अर्जुन, ), also known as Partha and Dhananjaya, is a character in several ancient Hindu texts, and specifically one of the major characters of the Indian epic Mahabharata. In the epic, he is the third among Panda ...

, a character from the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

epic ''

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...

'' of

ancient India According to consensus in modern genetics, anatomically modern humans first arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago. Quote: "Y-Chromosome and Mt-DNA data support the colonization of South Asia by m ...

. He is one of the

Pandavas The Pandavas (Sanskrit: पाण्डव, IAST: Pāṇḍava) refers to the five legendary brothers— Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva—who are the central characters of the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata''. They are acknowledg ...

, depicted as a skilled

archer Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In m ...

, winning the hand of

Draupadi Draupadi ( sa, द्रौपदी, draupadī, Daughter of Drupada), also referred to as Krishnaa, Panchali, and Yagyaseni, is the main female protagonist of the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata,'' and the common consort of the five Pandava brothers ...

in marriage, and, in the

Kurukshetra War The Kurukshetra War ( sa, कुरुक्षेत्र युद्ध ), also called the Mahabharata War, is a war described in the ''Mahabharata ( sa, महाभारत )''. The conflict arose from a dynastic succession struggle be ...

, Lord

Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one ...

becomes his charioteer, teaching him the sacred knowledge of

Gita The Bhagavad Gita (; sa, श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता, lit=The Song by God, translit=śrīmadbhagavadgītā;), often referred to as the Gita (), is a 700- verse Hindu scripture that is part of the epic ''Mahabharata'' ( ...

. In

Hindu mythology Hindu mythology is the body of myths and literature attributed to, and espoused by, the adherents of the Hindu religion, found in Hindu texts such as the Vedic literature, epics like ''Mahabharata'' and ''Ramayana'', the Puranas, and reg ...

, he has been seen as a symbol of hard work, dedication and concentration.

History

Instituted in 1961 to honour the outstanding sportspersons of the country, the award over the years has undergone a number of expansions, reviews, and rationalizations. The award was expanded to include all the recognised disciplines in 1977, has introduced indigenous games and physically handicapped categories in 1995 and introduced a lifetime contribution category in 1995 leading to creation of a separate

Dhyan Chand Award The Major Dhyan Chand Award, officially known as Major Dhyan Chand Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sports and Games, is the lifetime achievement sporting honour of the Republic of India. The award is named after hockey wizard Major Dhyan ...

in 2002. The latest revision in 2018 stipulates that the award is given only to the disciplines included in the events like

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

Paralympic Games The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

and

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

along with

Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

, Indigenous Games, and Parasports. It also recommends giving only fifteen awards in a year, relaxing in case of excellent performance in major

multi-sport events A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, featuring competition in many different sports among organized teams of athletes from (mostly) nation-states. The first major, modern, multi-sport event of interna ...

, team sports, across gender and giving away of at least one award to physically challenged category. The nominations for the award are received from all government recognised National Sports Federations, the

Indian Olympic Association The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) or Indian Olympic Committee (IOC) is the body responsible for selecting athletes to represent India at the Olympic Games, Asian Games and other international athletic meets and for managing the Indian teams ...

, the

Sports Authority of India The Sports Authority of India (SAI) is the apex national sports body of India, established in 1982 by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports of Government of India for the development of sports in India. SAI has 2 Sports Academic institution ...

(SAI), the Sports Promotion and Control Boards, the state and the union territory governments and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Arjuna,

Dhyan Chand Major Dhyan Chand (29 August 1905 – 3 December 1979) was an Indian field hockey player, widely regarded as one of the greatest field hockey players in history. He was known for his extraordinary ball control and goal-scoring feats, in a ...

and

Dronacharya Droṇa ( sa, द्रोण, Droṇa), also referred to as Dronacharya ( sa, द्रोणाचार्य, Droṇācārya), is a major character of the Hindu epic Mahabharata. In the epic, he serves as the royal preceptor of the Kaura ...

awardees of the previous years. The recipients are selected by a committee constituted by the Ministry and are honoured for their "good performance in the field of sports over a period of four years" at international level and for having shown "qualities of leadership, sportsmanship and a sense of discipline".

Recipients

A total of 147 awards were presented in the 1980s thirteen in 1980–1981, followed by sixteen in 1981, twenty in 1982, nineteen in 1983, fifteen in 1984, nineteen in 1985, thirteen in 1986, fifteen in 1987, five in 1988 and twelve in 1989. Individuals from thirty-three different sports were awarded, which includes nineteen from athletics, ten each from hockey and cricket, seven each from boxing, mountaineering and weightlifting, six each from chess, wrestling and yachting, five each from kho kho, shooting, swimming, table tennis and volleyball, four each from billiards & snooker, equestrian, football and kabaddi, three each from golf, three each from adventure sports, badminton and basketball, two each from archery, golf, gymnastics, lawn tennis, polo, powerlifting and rowing, and one each from ball badminton, bodybuilding, cycling, roller skating and squash. Amongst the notable winners were P. T. Usha (awarded in 1983), nicknamed "queen of track and field". In 1984 Los Angeles Olympics she missed the bronze medal by one-hundredth of a second in

400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once a ...

, and in 1985 Asian Athletics Championships held in Indonesia, she won five gold medals and a bronze medal. Bachendri Pal (awarded in 1984), became the first Indian woman to climb

Mount Everest Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow heig ...

in 1984, after which she led a number of expeditions including the 1993 Indo-Nepalese Women's Everest Expedition.

Viswanathan Anand Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand (born 11 December 1969) is an Indian chess grandmaster and a former five-time World Chess Champion. He became the first grandmaster from India in 1988, and is one of the few players to have surpassed an Elo rating of ...

(awarded in 1985) became India's first-ever

chess grandmaster Grandmaster (GM) is a title awarded to chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain. Once achieved, the title is held for life, though exceptionally it h ...

in 1988. He would go on to become the FIDE World Chess Championship in 2000 and subsequently undisputed World Chess Champion four times in 2007, 2008, 2010, and 2012.

Geet Sethi Geet Siriram Sethi (born 17 April 1961) of India is a professional player of English billiards who dominated the sport throughout much of the 1990s. He is also a notable amateur (ex-pro) snooker player. He is a five-time winner of the professio ...

(awarded in 1985) was a professional

English billiards English billiards, called simply billiards in the United Kingdom and in many former British colonies, is a cue sport that combines the aspects of carom billiards and pool. Two (one white and one yellow) and a red are used. Each player or team ...

player. He dominated the sport for much of 1990s, becoming the world champion eight times and setting two world records.

List of Recipients

Explanatory notes

Reference

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:List of Arjuna Award recipients (1980-1989) Indian sports trophies and awards Lists of Indian award winners