List of Arjuna Award recipients (1990–1999)

The Arjuna Award, officially known as the Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games,[1] is the sports honour of the Republic of India.It is awarded annually by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. Before the introduction of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna in 1991–1992, the Arjuna award was the highest sporting honour of India.[2][3] As of 2020, the award comprises "a bronze statuette of Arjuna, certificate, ceremonial dress, and a cash prize of 15 lakh (US$18,000)."[a]

Arjuna Award
Civilian award for outstanding individual achievements in National Sports
Sponsored byGovernment of India
Established1961
First awarded1961
Highlights
Total awarded147

Name

edit

The award is named after Arjuna, a character from the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata of ancient India. He is one of the Pandavas, depicted as a skilled archer winning the hand of Draupadi in marriage and in the Kurukshetra War, Lord Krishna becomes his charioteer teaching him the sacred knowledge of Gita.[4] In Hindu mythology, he has been seen as a symbol of hard work, dedication and concentration.[5]

History

edit

Instituted in 1961 to honour the outstanding sportspersons of the country,[6] the award over the years has undergone a number of expansions, reviews, and rationalizations. The award was expanded to include all the recognised disciplines in 1977, has introduced indigenous games and physically handicapped categories in 1995 and introduced a lifetime contribution category in 1995 leading to creation of a separate Dhyan Chand Award in 2002.[7][8] The latest revision in 2018 stipulates that the award is given only to the disciplines included in the events like Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, World Championship and World Cup along with Cricket, Indigenous Games, and Parasports. It also recommends giving only fifteen awards in a year, relaxing in case of excellent performance in major multi-sport events, team sports, across gender and giving away of at least one award to physically challenged category.[1]

The nominations for the award are received from all government-recognised National Sports Federations, the Indian Olympic Association, the Sports Authority of India (SAI), the Sports Promotion and Control Boards, the state and the union territory governments and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Arjuna, Dhyan Chand and Dronacharya awardees of the previous years. The recipients are selected by a committee constituted by the Ministry and are honoured for their "good performance in the field of sports over a period of four years" at international level and for having shown "qualities of leadership, sportsmanship and a sense of discipline".[1]

Recipients

edit

A total of 147 awards were presented in the 1990s – thirteen in 1990, followed by eight in 1991, seven in 1992, ten in 1993, eight in 1994, nine in 1995, eighteen in 1996, twenty-one in 1997, thirty in 1998 and twenty-three in 1999. Individuals from twenty-nine different sports were awarded, which includes twenty-one from hockey, twenty from athletics, eleven from kabaddi, nine each from boxing, cricket, shooting and weightlifting, eight from wrestling, four each from badminton, golf, judo, lawn tennis, rowing, swimming and yachting, three each from table tennis and volleyball, two each from archery, football and squash, and one each from basketball, billiards & snooker, bodybuilding, carrom, chess, equestrian, gymnastics, kho kho and powerlifting.[9]

Amongst the notable winners was Leander Paes (awarded in 1990), considered one of the greatest doubles players in tennis history. He won eight Grand Slam doubles titles and ten Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. He also won the bronze medal in men's single tennis at 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, being the first Indian individual medal winner at Olympics since 1952.[10] Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar (awarded in 1994), considered one of the greatest batsmen of all time according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, was the first cricketer to score 100 centuries in international competition.[11] 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.[11] Dhanraj Pillay (awarded in 1995), was a field hockey player and the captain of the India national team. He is regarded as one of best Indian players of all times, having made three hundred and thirty-nine appearances for the national team and having scored a hundred and seventy goals.[12] Another cricketer Rahul Dravid (awarded in 1998), nicknamed The Wall for "the sense of permanence to be found in his batting", is the fourth highest run-scorer in Test cricket and is considered one of the greatest batsmen of all time.[13]

List of recipients

edit
 
Indian stamp honoring Sachin Tendulkar
 
Rahul Dravid
Award recipients by year[9]
Year Number of recipients
1990
13
1991
8
1992
7
1993
10
1994
8
1995
9
1996
18
1997
21
1998
30
1999
23
Award recipients by sport[9]
Sport Number of recipients
Archery
2
Athletics
20
Badminton
4
Basketball
1
Billiards & Snooker
1
Bodybuilding
1
Boxing
9
Carrom
1
Chess
1
Cricket
9
Equestrian
1
Football
2
Golf
4
Gymnastics
1
Hockey
21
Judo
4
Kabaddi
11
Kho Kho
1
Lawn Tennis
4
Powerlifting
1
Rowing
4
Shooting
9
Squash
2
Swimming
4
Table Tennis
3
Volleyball
3
Weightlifting
9
Wrestling
8
Yachting
4
Key
   § Indicates Para sports
   + Indicates a Lifetime contribution honour
   # Indicates a posthumous honour
List of Arjuna award recipients, showing the year, sport, and gender[9]
Year Recipient Sport Gender
1990 R. Chandra Weightlifting Male
1990 Bula Choudhury Swimming Female
1990 Kunjarani Devi Weightlifting Female
1990 M. R. Dharuvala Squash Male
1990 Pushpendra Kumar Garg Yachting Male
1990 Anupama Gokhale Chess Female
1990 Leander Paes Lawn Tennis Male
1990 Deena Ram Athletics Male
1990 Dalel Singh Ror Volleyball Male
1990 Hardeep Singh Kabaddi Male
1990 Jagbir Singh Hockey Male
1990 Ombir Singh Wrestling Male
1990 M. S. Walia Table Tennis Male
1991 Chhaya Adak Weightlifting Female
1991 Rajeev Bagga Badminton§ Male
1991 Limba Ram Archery Male
1991 Ali Sher Golf Male
1991 Adhiraj Singh Equestrian Male
1991 Dalvir Singh Rowing Male
1991 K. Udayakumar Volleyball Male
1991 Dharmendra Singh Yadav Boxing Male
1992 E. S. Bhaskaran Powerlifting Male
1992 Sandeep Byala Judo Male
1992 Mervyn Fernandis Hockey Male
1992 Bahadur Prasad Athletics Male
1992 Rajendra Prasad Boxing Male
1992 Sanjeeva Kumar Singh Archery Male
1992 Pappu Yadav Wrestling Male
1993 Cawas Billimoria Judo Male
1993 Ashok Kumar Garg Wrestling Male
1993 Mukund Killekar Boxing Male
1993 Kiran More Cricket Male
1993 Homi Motivala Yachting Male
1993 Manoj Pingale Boxing Male
1993 Manoj Prabhakar Cricket Male
1993 K. Saramma Athletics Female
1993 Bharati Singh Weightlifting Female
1993 Mansher Singh Shooting Male
1994 R. S. Bhanwala Rowing Male
1994 Rosa Kutty Athletics Female
1994 Karnam Malleswari Weightlifting Female
1994 Subbiah Rajaratnam Kabaddi Male
1994 Jaspal Rana Shooting Male
1994 Jude Felix Sabastian Hockey Male
1994 Ashok D. Shinde Kabaddi Male
1994 Sachin Tendulkar Cricket Male
1995 Mahesh Bhupathi Lawn Tennis Male
1995 Venkatesan Devarajan Boxing Male
1995 P. Ganesan Kabaddi Male
1995 Malathi Krishnamurthy Holla Athletics§ Female
1995 Mukesh Kumar Hockey Male
1995 Anil Kumble Cricket Male
1995 Dhanraj Pillay Hockey Male
1995 Jyotirmoyee Sikdar Athletics Female
1995 Shakti Singh Athletics Male
1996 Ashish Ballal Hockey Male
1996 Ajit Bhaduria Athletics Male
1996 Shriram Bhavsar Kabaddi Male
1996 Poonam Chopra Judo Female
1996 Neta Moreshwar Dadwe Kabaddi Female
1996 Sandeep Singh Dhillon Badminton§ Male
1996 Kalle Gowda Athletics & Cricket§ Male
1996 A. Maria Irudayam Carrom Male
1996 Moraad Ali Khan Shooting Male
1996 V. Kutraleeswaran Swimming Male
1996 Amit Luthra Golf Male
1996 Gaurav Natekar Lawn Tennis Male
1996 Kelly Subbanand Rao# Yachting Male
1996 Rajkumar Sangwan Boxing Male
1996 Javagal Srinath Cricket Male
1996 A. B. Subbaiah Hockey Male
1996 Padmini Thomas Athletics Female
1996 Surender Singh Waldia Rowing Male
1997 Reeth Abraham Athletics Female
1997 Chetan Baboor Table Tennis Male
1997 Sourav Ganguly Cricket Male
1997 Misha Grewal Squash Female
1997 Asif Ismail Lawn Tennis Male
1997 Ajay Jadeja Cricket Male
1997 Harmik Kahlon Golf Male
1997 Sanjay Kumar Wrestling Male
1997 Satendra Kumar Shooting Male
1997 N. Laxmi Weightlifting Female
1997 M. Mahadev Athletics & Cricket§ Male
1997 Brahmanand Sankhwalkar Football Male
1997 Ashok Harishankar Shandilya Billiards & Snooker Male
1997 Naresh Kumar Sharma Shooting§ Male
1997 Paramjit Sharma Weightlifting Male
1997 Harmik Singh Hockey Male
1997 Jagdish Singh Wrestling Male
1997 Rajinder Singh Hockey Male
1997 Randhir Singh Kabaddi Male
1997 Shilpi Singh Shooting Female
1997 Surinder Singh Sodhi Hockey Male
1998 Bhaichung Bhutia Football Male
1998 Baljit Singh Dhillon Hockey Male
1998 Rahul Dravid Cricket Male
1998 Anju Dua Gymnastics§ Female
1998 S. D. Eshan Athletics Male
1998 Maharaj Krishan Kaushik Hockey Male
1998 Ashan Kumar Kabaddi Male
1998 S. Omana Kumari Hockey Female
1998 Rachita Mistry Athletics Male
1998 Nayan Mongia Cricket Male
1998 Shobha Narayan Kho Kho Female
1998 Biswajit Palit Kabaddi Male
1998 T. V. Pauly Bodybuilding Male
1998 Kaka Pawar Wrestling Male
1998 Satheesha Rai Weightlifting Male
1998 Sri Chand Ram Athletics Male
1998 Subramaniam Raman Table Tennis Male
1998 Ranjini Ramanujam Badminton§ Female
1998 Surjit Singh Randhawa# Hockey Male
1998 Mohammed Riaz Hockey Male
1998 Bhanu Sachdeva Swimming Male
1998 Manavjit Singh Sandhu Shooting Male
1998 Baldev Singh Hockey Male
1998 Dingko Singh Boxing Male
1998 Narender Singh Judo Male
1998 Neelam Jaswant Singh Athletics Female
1998 Paramjit Singh Athletics Male
1998 Rohtas Singh Wrestling Male
1998 Pritam Rani Siwach Hockey Female
1998 Roopa Unnikrishnan Shooting Female
1999 Parduman Singh Brar + Athletics Male
1999 Gulab Chand Athletics Male
1999 Sajjan Singh Cheema + Basketball Male
1999 Pullela Gopichand Badminton Male
1999 Gurmeet Kaur Athletics Female
1999 Haripal Kaushik + Hockey Male
1999 Balbir Singh Kullar + Hockey Male
1999 Ashok Kumar + Wrestling Male
1999 Jitender Kumar Boxing Male
1999 Nisha Millet Swimming Female
1999 Aashim Mongia Yachting Male
1999 Victor Philips + Hockey Male
1999 Tirath Raj + Kabaddi Male
1999 Sunita Rani Athletics Female
1999 Balwinder Singh + Kabaddi Male
1999 Dalbir Singh Weightlifting Male
1999 Gurcharan Singh Boxing Male
1999 Jagjit Singh Rowing Male
1999 Jeev Milkha Singh Golf Male
1999 Ramandeep Singh Hockey Male
1999 Sukhpal Singh Volleyball Male
1999 Vivek Singh Shooting Male
1999 G. Venkataravanappa + Athletics§ Male

Explanatory notes

edit
  1. ^ The cash prize was introduced in the year 1977–1978 as a scholarship of 200 (US$2.40) a month for 2 years.[14] It was revised to one time cash prize of 5,000 (US$60) in 1986,[15] to 20,000 (US$240) in 1987,[16] to 50,000 (US$600) in 1993,[17] to 1.5 lakh (US$1,800) in 1998,[18] to 3 lakh (US$3,600) in 2001,[19] to 5 lakh (US$6,000) in 2009,[20] and to 15 lakh (US$18,000) in 2020.[21]

References

edit
  1. ^ a b c "Revised Scheme of Arjuna Award" (PDF). Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (India). 7 September 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  2. ^ Chhetri, Vivek (30 May 2015). "Team spirit at its peak for Arjuna". Telegraph India. Archived from the original on 1 October 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  3. ^ "Vishwanathan Anand gets Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award" (PDF) (Press release). Press Information Bureau, India. 18 August 1992. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  4. ^ Davis, Richard H. (26 October 2014). The Bhagavad Gita. ISBN 978-0-691-13996-8.
  5. ^ "Sports Ministry unveils new look Sports Awards" (Press release). Press Information Bureau, India. 26 August 2009. Archived from the original on 28 November 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  6. ^ Bhardwaj, D. K. "India in Sports: Some Fabulous Achievements". Press Information Bureau, India. Archived from the original on 13 August 2017. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  7. ^ "Cash awards for Arjuna winners" (PDF) (Press release). Press Information Bureau, India. 12 October 1977. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  8. ^ "Arjuna Awards further expanded" (PDF) (Press release). Press Information Bureau, India. 24 May 1995. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  9. ^ a b c d "List of Arjuna Awardees (1961–2018)" (PDF). Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (India). Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 July 2020. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
  10. ^ "Leander Paes". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 14 August 2020. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  11. ^ a b "Sachin Tendulkar". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  12. ^ "Dhanraj Pillay's 48th birthday: Some interesting facts that you should know". India Today. 15 July 2016. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  13. ^ Biswas, Soutik (9 March 2012). "The greatness of Rahul Dravid". BBC India. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  14. ^ "Two years Scholarship for winners" (PDF) (Press release). Press Information Bureau, India. 27 October 1978. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  15. ^ "Arjuna Award for 1986 to 13 Sports persons" (PDF) (Press release). Press Information Bureau, India. 12 January 1988. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  16. ^ "Value of cash prize enhanced" (PDF) (Press release). Press Information Bureau, India. 30 May 1989. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  17. ^ "Arjuna awards, Dronachrya awards for 1998 Presented" (PDF) (Press release). Press Information Bureau, India. 22 July 1993. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  18. ^ "Value of cash prize enhanced" (Press release). Press Information Bureau, India. 1 September 1998. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  19. ^ "Arjuna Awards scheme Revised" (Press release). Press Information Bureau, India. 3 April 2002. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  20. ^ "Several initiatives undertaken for transformation of sports" (Press release). Press Information Bureau, India. 22 December 2009. Archived from the original on 1 October 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  21. ^ "Enhancement of cash amount of Sports Awards 2020" (PDF). Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (India). 27 August 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
edit