The Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports today revealed the names of 47 sportspersons, coaches, universities and entities who have been selected to receive the National Sports Awards for the year 2024. The President of India will confer the awards at Rashtrapati Bhavan on 17 January 2025.

The list of awardees include four for Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, 34 for Arjuna Award, five for Dronacharya Award, one for Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar and three for Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy. But no name from Odisha featured in the list of awardees.

Woman hockey Olympian Deep Grace Ekka was the 12th and last sportsperson from Odisha to have received the Arjuna Award in 2022. Paralympic and para-badminton world champion Pramod Bhagat is the only sportsperson from Odisha to have been conferred with the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award in 2021. He also bagged the Arjuna Award in 2019.

National Sports Awards are given every year to recognize and reward excellence in sports. Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award is given for the spectacular and most outstanding performance in the field of sports by a sportsperson over the period of the previous four years.

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.

Arjuna Award (Lifetime) is given to honour and motivate those sportspersons who have contributed to sports by their performance and continue to contribute to promotion of sports even after their retirement from active sporting career.

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 overall top performing university in Khelo India University Games is given the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy.

LIST OF NATIONAL SPORTS AWARD WINNERS 2024:

Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award: 1. Gukesh D (Chess), 2. Harmanpreet Singh (Hockey), 3. Praveen Kumar (Para-Athletics), 4. Manu Bhaker (Shooting).

Arjuna Awards (Regular): 1. Jyothi Yarraji (Athletics), 2. Annu Rani (Athletics), 3. Nitu (Boxing), 4. Saweety (Boxing), 5. Vantika Agrawal (Chess), 6. Salima Tete (Hockey), 7. Abhishek (Hockey), 8. Sanjay (Hockey), 9. Jarmanpreet Singh (Hockey), 10. Sukhjeet Singh (Hockey), 11. Rakesh Kumar (Para-Archery), 12. Preeti Pal (Para-Athletics), 13. Jeevanji Deepthi (Para-Athletics), 14. Ajeet Singh (Para-Athletics), 15. Sachin Sarjerao Khilari (Para-Athletics), 16. Dharambir (Para-Athletics), 17. Pranav Soorma (Para-Athletics), 18. H Hokato Sema (Para-Athletics), 19. Simran (Para-Athletics), 20. Navdeep (Para-Athletics), 21. Nitesh Kumar (Para-Badminton), 22. Thulasimathi Murugesan (Para-Badminton), 23. Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan (Para-Badminton), 24. Manisha Ramadass (Para-Badminton), 25. Kapil Parmar (Para-Judo), 26. Mona Agarwal (Para-Shooting), 27. Rubina Francis (Para-Shooting), 28. Swapnil Suresh Kusale (Shooting), 29. Sarabjot Singh (Shooting), 30. Abhay Singh (Squash), 31. Sajan Prakash (Swimming), 32. Aman (Wrestling).
Arjuna Awards (Lifetime): 1. Sucha Singh (Athletics), 2. Murlikant Rajaram Petkar (Para-Swimming).

Dronacharya Award (Regular): 1. Subhash Rana (Para-Shooting), 2. Deepali Deshpande (Shooting), 3. Sandeep Sangwan (Hockey).
Dronacharya Award (Lifetime): 1. S Muralidharan (Badminton), 2. Armando Agnelo Colaco (Football).

Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar: 1. Physical Education Foundation of India.
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy: 1. Chandigarh University (Overall winner University), 2. Lovely Professional University, (1st runner-up University), 3. Guru Nanak Dev University (2nd runner-up University).

LIST OF ODISHA ARJUNA AWARDEES: 1. Minati Mohapatra (Cycling, 1978), 2. Bijaya Kumar Satpathy (Weightlifting, 1981), 3. Rachita Mistry-Panda (Athletics, 1998), 4. Dilip Kumar Tirkey (Hockey, 2001), 5. Jyoti Sunita Kullu (Hockey, 2006), 6. Ignace Tirkey (Hockey, 2009), 7. Katulu Ravi Kumar (Weightlifting, 2011), 8. Pramod Bhagat (Para-Badminton, 2019), 9. Dutee Chand (Athletics, 2020), 10. Birendra Lakra (Hockey, 2021), 11. Amit Rohidas (Hockey, 2021), 12. Deep Grace Ekka (Hockey, 2022).