Arjuna Award,officially known as Arjuna Awards for Outstanding performance in Sports and Games.

It is the second highest sporting honour in India.It is named after Arjuna,one of the characters of the epic Mahabharata of India.It was named by the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs ,Government of India.

The nomination for these awards are recieved from all nationally recognised sports organisations,state and union territory governments.Recipients are selected by a committee of the ministry of sports.

The main categories to recieve this award are :-

• good performance in sports over a period of 4 years at international level.
• qualities of leadership,motivation and discipline

Award consists of bronze statue of Arjuna,certificate ,ceremonial dress,cash prize of  rupees 15 lakhs.

It was instituted in the year 1961 and over the years,the award has undergone a lot of changes.

1977-it was expanded to include all category of sports

1995-it was expanded to include parasports

2002-lifetime recognition category led to the introduction of a seperate Dhyan Chand Lifetime Recognition Award.

Usually only 15 awards are given every year ,relaxing in case of excellent performance in multisport events,team sports or across gender.

Some of the Arjuna Award Winners from 2023:-

Parul Chaudhary (Athletics)

Mohammad Shami  (Cricket)