No Khel Ratna recommendation for 2025, 17 athletes get Arjuna Awards
The Indian government has decided not to award the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna for 2025, marking only the third time the honor has been withheld. Meanwhile, 17 athletes were selected for the Arjuna Award, though notable cricketers were excluded from the top honor due to a lack of a formal points-based selection system.
Why it matters
The decision highlights challenges in sports governance and the difficulty of standardizing performance metrics across different athletic disciplines in India.
NEW DELHI: The Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna, India’s highest sporting honour, will have no recipient for 2025, with the government not recommending any sportsperson for the prestigious award. It is only the third time since the award was instituted in 1991-92 that no athlete has been chosen, after similar instances in 2008 and 2014.The recommendations, cleared by the National Sports Awards selection committee headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice (Retd.) Arun Kumar Mishra, were sent to sports minister Mansukh Mandaviya for final assent. The sports ministry announced the National Sports Awards 2025 on Tuesday.The development comes after the possibility of compound archer Jyothi Surekha Vennam and India’s women’s World Cup-winning cricket captain Harmanpreet Kaur and vice-captain Smriti Mandhana being considered for the Khel Ratna was discussed by the committee at its meeting in New Delhi on December 12, 2025.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in