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Pawan Kumar Sehrawat and Ritu Negi have been conferred with the Arjuna Award for the sport of Kabaddi this year.
On Tuesday (January 9), President Droupadi Murmu honored the country's top-performing athletes with the National Sports Awards 2023 at the Rashtrapathi Bhawan in New Delhi. A total of 26 Indian athletes were recipients of the Arjuna Award across various disciplines of sport, including two athletes from Kabaddi.
The Arjuna Award, officially known as the Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is also the second-highest sporting honor in India. It is awarded annually by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India.
Until the introduction of the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna in 1991-92, it was the highest sporting honor in India.
The nominations for the award are received from National Sports Federations, Indian Olympic Associations, Sports Authority of India, and state and union territory governments.
The Arjuna Award was introduced for the first time in 1961, to recognize the outstanding sportspersons of the nation. Revised in 2018, the award is now given to disciplines that include the Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, World Championship and World Cup (with cricket), Indigenous Games and Para sports.
Indian men's Kabaddi captain Pawan Sehrawat led India to their eighth gold medal in the men's kabaddi event at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, last year. Ritu Negi is the captain of the Indian women's kabaddi team that won the gold medal in the same event.
Arjuna Award winners list in Kabaddi
The Arjuna Award for the sport of Kabaddi was introduced for the first time in 1972. Sahanand Shetty was the first player to be conferred with the award. An all-rounder from Maharashtra, he won 12 Senior National Championship titles with Indian Railways.
Shakuntala Khatavkar was the first women's player in the sport to receive the award in 1978.
Several stars of the game such as Ajay Thakur, Rakesh Kumar, Anup Kumar, Manjeet Chillar, Jasvir Singh, Deepak Niwas Hooda and Sandeep Narwal have won the award. These players have all been an integral part of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) as well.
Below is the complete list of all Kabaddi players who've been conferred with the award:
1972 - Mr. Sahanand Mahadev Shetty
1973 - Mr. Bholanath Guin
1978 - Ms. Shakuntala Pandarinath Khatavkar
1980 - Mr. Shantaram Jadhav
1981 - Ms. Monika Nath
1983 - Ms. Maya Kashinath
1986 - Ms. Rama Sarkar
1990 - Mr. Hardeep Singh
1994 - Mr. S. Rajarathnam
1994 - Mr. Ashok Shinde
1995 - Mr. P. Ganeshan
1996 - Mr. Shriram Bhavsar
1996 - Ms. Neeta Moreshwer Dadwe
1997 - Mr. Randhir Singh
1998 - Mr. Ashan Kumar
1998 - Mr. Bishwajit Palit
1999 - Mr. Balwinder Singh (Piddha)
1999 - Mr. Tirath Raj
2000 - Mr. C. Honnappa Gowda
2001 - Mr. B.C. Ramesh
2002 - Mr. Ram Mehar Singh
2003 - Mr. Sanjeev Kumar
2004 - Mr. Sunder Singh
2005 - Mr. Ramesh Kumar
2006 - Mr. Navneet Gautam
2009 - Mr. Pankaj Navnath Shirsat
2010 - Mr. Dinesh Kumar
2011- Mr. Rakesh Kumar
2011 - Ms. Tejeswini Bai V
2012 - Mr. Anoop Kumar
2014 - Ms. Mamtha Poojari
2015 - Mr. Manjeet Chhillar
2015 - Ms. Abhilasha Shashikant Mahatre
2017 - Mr. Jasvir Singh
2019 - Mr. Ajay Thakur
2020 - Mr. Deepak Hooda
2021 - Mr. Sandeep Narwal
2022 - Sakshi Kumari
2023 - Pawan Sehrawat
2023 - Ritu Negi
