The National Sports Awards is the collective name given to the six sports awards of Republic of India. It is awarded annually by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. They are presented by the President of India in the same ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan usually on 29 August each year along with the national adventure award. , a total of sixty-seven individuals have been awarded the various National Sports Awards in cricket. The four awards presented in cricket are Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Arjuna Award, Dhyan Chand Award and Dronacharya Award.
First presented in the year 1961, a total of fifty-six individuals have been honoured with the Arjuna Award in cricket for their "good performance at the international level" over the period of last four years First presented in the year 1986, a total of seven coaches have been honoured with the Dronacharya Award in cricket for their "outstanding work on a consistent basis and enabling sportspersons to excel in international events" over the period of last four years, with two coaches being awarded in the lifetime contribution category. First presented in the year 1997–1998, a total of four sportspersons have been honoured with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, the highest sporting honour of India, in cricket for their "most outstanding performance at the international level" over the period of last four years.
Recipients
, four cricketers have been awarded the highest sporting award, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna. The first recipient was Sachin Tendulkar, considered one of the greatest batsmen of all time according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, and the first cricketer to score 100 centuries in international competition. He was presented with the Arjuna Award in the year 1994 and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award in the year 1997–1998. He is also the highest run scorer of all time in International cricket and the first sportsperson to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award in 2014.
The second recipient, MS Dhoni, is the former captain of the Indian national team in limited-overs formats from 2007 to 2016 and in Test cricket from 2008 to 2014. Under his captaincy, India won the inaugural 2007 ICC World Twenty20, the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup and the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy. He was a wicket-keeper and one of the highest run scorers in One Day Internationals of all time. He was presented with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award in the year 2007. In 2016, a sport biopic M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story based on his life was released.
The third recipient is Virat Kohli. He was ICC player of the year multiple times. Currently, Kohli is the 4th leading run-scorer of all time with close to 27324 runs, and has notched up 81 international hundreds. In 2020, the ICC had named Kohli the Player of the Decade. He has the most ODI centuries in world with 50 centuries.
Rohit Sharma, the fourth recipient, a former cricket captain in all formats, hit 264, the highest individual score in ODI format. He also became the first and only cricketer to hit 5 centuries in a single World Cup during 2019 World Cup. He is also the only cricketer to hit three double centuries in an ODI.
+ List of National Sports award recipients, showing the year, award and gender Year Recipient Award Gender1961 Arjuna Award Male1964 Arjuna Award Male1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1975 1976 Female1977–1978 Male1979–1980 1980–1981 1981 1982 1983 Female1984 Male1985 Female1986 Male Dronacharya Award 1987 1989 Arjuna Award 1990 Dronacharya Award 1993 Arjuna Award 1994 1995 1996 1997 1997–1998 Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna 1998 Arjuna Award 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Dronacharya Award Female2005 Arjuna Award 2006 2007 Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Male2009 Arjuna Award 2010 Female2011 Male2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Dronacharya Award 2017 Arjuna Award Female Male2018 Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Arjuna Award Female Dronacharya Award Male2019 Arjuna Award Female Dronacharya Award Male2020 Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Arjuna Award Female Male2021 Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Female Dronacharya Award Male Arjuna Award 2022 Dronacharya Award 2023 Arjuna Award
References
External links Official Website