---
title: "Tejaswin Shankar, Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand named for Arjuna Award in India; Khel Ratna not awarded in 2025"
sdDatePublished: "2026-08-18T13:13:00Z"
source: "https://www.olympics.com/en/news/national-sports-awards-2025-final-list"
topics:
  - name: "sport achievement"
    identifier: "medtop:20001301"
  - name: "sport event"
    identifier: "medtop:20001108"
  - name: "sport organisation"
    identifier: "medtop:20001125"
  - name: "athletics"
    identifier: "medtop:20000827"
  - name: "badminton"
    identifier: "medtop:20000847"
  - name: "boxing"
    identifier: "medtop:20000856"
  - name: "chess"
    identifier: "medtop:20001154"
  - name: "wrestling"
    identifier: "medtop:20001098"
locations:
  - "Glasgow"
  - "Birmingham"
  - "Haveli"
  - "India"
---


Tejaswin Shankar, Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand named for Arjuna Award in India; Khel Ratna not awarded in 2025

National Sports Awards 2025: Tejaswin Shankar, Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand among 17 named for Arjuna Award - winners list

National Sports Awards 2025: Tejaswin Shankar, Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand among 17 named for Arjuna Award - winners list

No sportsperson has been selected for the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna, India’s highest sporting honour, for 2025.

Decathlete Tejaswin Shankar , along with badminton players Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand , were among the 17 sportspersons named for the Arjuna Award as the final list for the National Sports Awards 2025 was revealed on Tuesday.

The National Sports Awards are given annually by India's Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports to honour standout achievers

Boxer Narender Berwal , who won the men’s 90+kg silver medal at the Commonwealth Games 2026 in Glasgow earlier this month, also features on the list.

No sportsperson has been selected for the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna , India’s highest sporting honour, for 2025. It will be the first time since 2014 that the Khel Ratna will not be awarded.

In 2024, Olympic medallists Manu Bhaker , Harmanpreet Singh , chess player Gukesh D and para-athlete Praveen Kumar were the four recipients of the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award.

Indian hockey team player Hardik Singh, a two-time Olympic bronze medallist, was recommended for the Khel Ratna 2025 when the initial nominations were announced but does not feature on the final list.

The selection panel had also recommended 24 sportspersons for the Arjuna Award in December before the final list was reduced to 17.

Gymnast Pranati Nayak, kho kho player Nirmala Bhati, polo player Padmanabh Singh, shooter Mehuli Ghosh, table tennis player Sutirtha Mukherjee, wrestler Sonam Malik and yogasana athlete Aarti Pal were among those recommended earlier but do not feature on the final list.

The Arjuna Award takes into account performances over the previous four years, along with qualities of leadership, sportsmanship and discipline.

Tejaswin won a historic decathlon silver medal at the Asian Games 2023 and added another major medal to his collection at the Commonwealth Games 2026.

The 27-year-old Tejaswin clinched bronze in Glasgow with 7976 points to become the first Indian to win a Commonwealth Games medal in the decathlon.

Treesa and Gayatri, meanwhile, won the women’s doubles bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham and have since established themselves as India’s leading women’s doubles badminton pair.

Narender added the Commonwealth Games silver in Glasgow to the bronze medal he won at the Asian Games 2023.

Athletics has three representatives on the final Arjuna Award list, with Muhammed Ajmal V and Priyanka Goswami joining Tejaswin.

Indian hockey players Lalremsiami and Rajkumar Pal have also been selected, while Rudransh Khandelwal and Ekta Bhyan are the two para-sport representatives.

Former Indian footballer I Arumainayagam has been selected for the Arjuna Award (Lifetime).

Five coaches have been named for the Dronacharya Award .

Parveer Singh, Chhote Lal Yadav and Neha Nandkumar Chavan have been selected in the regular category, while Dharmendra Singh Yadav and Virender Kumar feature in the lifetime category.

National Sports Awards 2025 winners list

Arjuna Award : Tejaswin Shankar (athletics), Muhammed Ajmal V (athletics), Priyanka Goswami (athletics), Treesa Jolly (badminton), Gayatri Gopichand (badminton), Narender (boxing), Vidit Gujrathi (chess), Divya Deshmukh (chess), Dhanush Srikanth (deaf shooting), Lalremsiami Hmarzote (hockey), Rajkumar Pal (hockey), Surjeet (kabaddi), Pooja (kabaddi), Rudransh Khandelwal (para-shooting), Ekta Bhyan (para-athletics), Arvind Singh (rowing), Akhil Sheoran (shooting)

Arjuna Award (Lifetime) : I Arumainayagam (football)

Dronacharya Award - Regular : Parveer Singh (athletics), Chhote Lal Yadav (boxing), Neha Nandkumar Chavan (shooting)

Dronacharya Award - Lifetime : Dharmendra Singh Yadav (boxing), Virender Kumar (wrestling)

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Picture by 2026 Getty Images

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