🗞️ Why in News The Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports announced the National Sports Awards 2025 on August 18, 2026. No sportsperson was selected for the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, the first such gap since 2014.
Who Was Honoured
17 sportspersons received the Arjuna Award (plus one Lifetime Arjuna Award), including high jumper Tejaswin Shankar, chess players Vidit Gujrathi and Divya Deshmukh, and the badminton pair Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand. Five coaches received the Dronacharya Award, including Lifetime honourees Dharmendra Singh Yadav (boxing) and Virender Kumar (wrestling).
Why This Matters
The absence of a Khel Ratna recipient, India’s highest sporting honour, breaks an unbroken run of annual selections since 2014 and has drawn attention to the award selection criteria and eligibility debates within India’s sports-governance framework.
UPSC Relevance
Persons and Awards in News is a recurring Prelims category, and this specific anomaly, a skipped Khel Ratna year, is itself testable. A useful Mains or essay angle examines sports-award governance and what selection-criteria debates reveal about balancing merit recognition with institutional consistency.
📌 Facts Corner, Knowledgepedia
National Sports Awards 2025:
- Announced: August 18, 2026
- Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna: no recipient, first gap since 2014
- Arjuna Award: 17 winners + 1 Lifetime; includes Tejaswin Shankar, Vidit Gujrathi, Divya Deshmukh, Treesa Jolly, Gayatri Gopichand
- Dronacharya Award: 5 coaches, including Lifetime honourees Dharmendra Singh Yadav, Virender Kumar
Other Relevant Facts:
- Award administered by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports
Sources: Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, PIB
Source: National Sports Awards 2025 Announced, No Khel Ratna Given for First Time Since 2014 — Ujiyari.com | Free UPSC & State PCS Current Affairs
