The Arjuna Award has always been more than a medal and a citation. Instituted in 1961, it is India’s most consistent barometer of sustained sporting excellence.
But the 2024–25 cycle of National Sports Awards, culminating in the recently finalised Arjuna Award 2025 nominations, marks a deeper shift one that reveals how India now defines success, merit, and future potential in sport.
With nominees ranging from Tejaswin Shankar and Mohammed Afsal in athletics, Divya Deshmukh and Vidit Gujrathi in chess, to Treesa Jolly–Gayatri Gopichand in badminton and Aarti Pal in Yogasana, the list captures a sporting ecosystem that is broader, more inclusive, and far more strategic than it was a decade ago.
The Arjuna Award: From Recognition to Policy Tool
At its core, the Arjuna Award rewards four years of consistent international performance, leadership, discipline, and sportsmanship. What has changed significantly is how this consistency is interpreted. The selection committee comprising former Olympians, administrators, and experts now relies heavily on measurable outputs: medals at the Olympics, Paralympics, World Championships, Asian Games, and sustained presence on podiums rather than one-off breakthroughs.
This evolution was clearly visible in the 2024 Arjuna Awards, conferred in January 2025, which were heavily shaped by India’s performances at the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics and the Hangzhou Asian Games. Olympic and Paralympic medalists featured prominently, reinforcing a clear institutional message: global competitiveness is the primary currency of recognition.
One of the most defining features of the 2024 awards and a trend that carries into 2025 nominations is the normalization of para-athletes as elite performers rather than inspirational exceptions. Nearly a third of the 2024 Arjuna recipients were para-athletes, a reflection of how India’s targeted investment in para-sports has translated into consistent international success.
This parity is not symbolic. Para-athletes are now assessed on the same performance logic as their able-bodied peers medals, world rankings, and competitive depth. The inclusion of para-shooters, para-athletes, and Deaflympics champions in the 2025 nomination list further underlines this structural shift.
Team Sports: Valuing Influence Over Headlines
Another clear evolution is how team sport contributions are being assessed. Hockey, kabaddi, and other collective disciplines feature prominently, with selectors increasingly recognising players whose influence goes beyond goals or points. This philosophy is best reflected in the elevation of midfielders, defenders, and tactical anchors athletes who shape games through control, positioning, and leadership.
The broader awards ecosystem, including the Khel Ratna recommendation for Hardik Singh, has reinforced that Indian sport is now capable of appreciating role clarity and tactical intelligence, not just visible output.
2025 Nominations: Depth Across Disciplines
The Arjuna Award 2025 nominations stand out for their range. Athletics alone offers a snapshot of India’s expanding ambitions. Tejaswin Shankar, who transitioned from high jump to decathlon, represents India’s push into multi-discipline events traditionally dominated by Europe and the Americas. His Asian Games and Asian Championships medals indicate sustained elite output, not an isolated peak.
Mohammed Afsal, with his sub-1:45 national record in the 800m, signals that Indian middle-distance running is finally approaching global benchmarks. Alongside him, race walkers like Priyanka show how less glamorous disciplines are quietly becoming reliable Olympic pathways.
In chess, the nominations of Divya Deshmukh and Vidit Gujrathi reflect both generational change and depth. Divya’s historic Women’s World Cup title in 2025 marks a breakthrough not just for her career but for Indian women’s chess as a whole, while Vidit’s sustained presence at elite global events underscores the value placed on consistency rather than isolated brilliance.
Doubles, Indigenous Sports, and Strategic Expansion
Badminton’s women’s doubles pairing of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand being nominated is particularly telling. For a country long focused on singles, this recognition reflects a strategic recalibration. Doubles offers more medal opportunities, and India’s sustained top-15 world ranking presence in women’s doubles is now being institutionally rewarded.
Perhaps the most culturally significant inclusion is Aarti Pal (Yogasana) the first athlete from the discipline to be nominated for an Arjuna Award. Yogasana’s journey from cultural practice to codified competitive sport is still recent, but its recognition signals the government’s intent to professionalise and internationalize indigenous disciplines ahead of platforms like the Asian Games.
Similarly, nominations from Kho Kho, Polo, and Kabaddi show that while Olympic sports remain the priority, the awards system is also being used to formalise and strengthen India’s traditional sporting identity.
The Cricket Absence and What It Signals
Once again, cricket finds no representation in the Arjuna Award list. This absence is structural rather than political. Cricket operates largely outside the government-funded high-performance ecosystem that the National Sports Awards are designed to incentivize. Without a points-based evaluation system and formal nominations, cricket remains disconnected from this honours framework reinforcing that these awards are now firmly aligned with Olympic and government-supported sports.
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The Arjuna Award nominations for 2025 are not merely a roll call of achievers. They function as a strategic document, revealing where India believes its future medals, visibility, and global relevance will come from.
There is a clear emphasis on:
- Consistency over hype
- Olympic and Paralympic relevance
- Expansion into new disciplines
- Inclusion without dilution of standards
As India builds toward the 2026 Asian Games and Los Angeles 2028, the Arjuna Award ecosystem is no longer reactive. It is predictive rewarding athletes not just for what they have done, but for representing pathways the system wants to strengthen.
Full List of Arjuna Award 2025 Nominees
Athletics
- Tejaswin Shankar
- Priyanka
- Mohammed Afsal
Badminton
- Treesa Jolly
- Gayatri Gopichand
Boxing
- Narender
Chess
- Vidit Gujrathi
- Divya Deshmukh
Deaf Shooting
- Dhanush Srikanth
Gymnastics
- Pranati Nayak
Hockey
- Rajkumar Pal
- Lalremsiami Hmar Zote
Kabaddi
- Surjeet
- Pooja
Kho Kho
- Nirmala Bhati
Para Sports
- Rudransh Khandelwal (Para-Shooting)
- Ekta Bhyan (Para-Athletics)
Polo
- Padmanabh Singh
Rowing
- Arvind Singh
Shooting
- Akhil Sheoran
- Mehuli Ghosh
Table Tennis
- Sutirtha Mukherjee
Wrestling
- Sonam Malik
Yogasana
- Aarti Pal
These names together reflect not just excellence, but the direction in which Indian sport is deliberately moving.
