4 min readUpdated: Aug 18, 2026 08:47 PM IST
Back in December, India’s hockey vice-captain Hardik Singh was recommended for the Khel Ratna. On Tuesday, when the sports ministry officially released the names of the winners after a revaluation of the selection process, the midfielder’s name no longer features on the list.
In fact, for the first time since 2014 – and only the third time since the Khel Ratna was instituted in 1991-92 – no athlete will be honoured with India’s highest sporting honour.
Not just Hardik. His teammates Lalit Upadhyay, a veteran of three World Cups and close to 200 internationals, Mandeep Singh and Vivek Sagar Prasad – all of whom played a crucial role in India’s return to the Olympic podium – would have hoped to be nominated for the Khel Ratna. Archer Jyothi Vennam, who won three gold medals at the Hangzhou Asian Games, and cricketer Harmanpreet Kaur were also in the running.
A Sports Ministry official said the final list was declared after a ‘thorough study of all applications, in a manner that the integrity of the awards remained intact.’
The Khel Ratna carries a cash prize of Rs 25 lakh, a medallion and a citation. Last year, four sportspersons were named Khel Ratna recipients. Chess world champion Gukesh Dommaraju, India’s men’s hockey team captain Harmanpreet Singh, para-athlete Praveen Kumar and Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker received the award in 2024.
The awards were announced based on the recommendations of a selection committee chaired by the former Supreme Court judge Justice (Retd.) Arun Kumar Mishra.
While there were no Khel Ratna winners, 17 athletes were conferred with the Arjuna Awards. Among them will be high jumper and decathlete Tejaswin Shankar, sprinters Muhammed Ajmal V and Priyanka Goswami, badminton players Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, chess players Vidit Gujrathi and Divya Deshmukh, hockey players Lalremsiami and Rajkumar Pal, and shooter Akhil Sheoran.
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Para-shooter Rudransh Khandelwal and para-athlete Ekta Bhyan were also recognised. Rower Arvind Singh, boxer Narender, kabaddi players Surjeet and Pooja, and deaf shooter Dhanush Srikanth completed the list of 17 Arjuna Award recipients.
The Arjuna Award (Lifetime) was given to former footballer I Arumainayagam, recognising his contribution to the sport. He was part of the Indian side, which won the gold medal at the 1962 Asian Games and won three Durand Cup titles during his career.
“The ‘Arjuna Award for outstanding performance in Sports and Games’ is given for good performance over a period of the previous four years and for showing qualities of leadership, sportsmanship and a sense of discipline,” a PIB release said.
Three coaches were selected for the Dronacharya Award in the regular category – athletics coach Parveer Singh, boxing coach Chhote Lal Yadav and shooting coach Neha Nandkumar Chavan. The lifetime category recognised boxing coach Dharmendra Singh Yadav and wrestling coach Virender Kumar.
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“The ‘Dronacharya Award for outstanding coaches in Sports and Games’ is given to coaches for doing outstanding and meritorious work on a consistent basis and for enabling sportspersons to excel in International events,” the release added.
The Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar, awarded to corporate entities and non-governmental organisations for their contribution to the promotion and development of sport, went to the Army Paralympic Node in Pune.
While the Arjuna and Dronacharya awards recognised a wide range of sporting achievements, the absence of a Khel Ratna recipient meant the country’s top sporting honour had no new name added to its roll of honour in the 2025 cycle.
