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Sports Award of India: Arjuna Award, History, Winners Details
Sports Award of India: Arjuna Award, History, Latest Winners details
Arjuna Award is the oldest National Sports Award of India for outstanding performance in sports and Games. It was established by the government of India in 1961. This Award is given by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (Government of India).
Arjuna Award is named after Arjuna (a character of Mahabharata) is an Indian literary figure who is known for his skill in archery. The award carries a cash prize of Rs. 5 Lakhs, along with a bronze statue of Arjun and a certificate.
Arjuna Award is given for a sportsman to be considered an eligible person, who should have shown good performance continuously for 3 years matching International level.
Arjuna Award honored for good performance in many national & international events including Olympics, Asian Games, Commonwealths Game, and World Cup Championships, Physically Handicapped Category was also included in the list for consideration of eligibility later.
Winners of Arjuna Award:
The first Arjuna Award winners were Saleem Durrani for cricket, Manuel Aaron for chess, LB D’souza for Boxing, Sarabjeet Singh for Basket Ball, Nandu Natekar for Badminton, Gurucharan Singh Randhawa for Athletics in the year 1961.
The recent Cricketers who won the Arjuna Award are Zaheer Khan (2011), Yuvraj Singh (2012), Virat Kohli (2013), Ravichandran Ashwin (2014).
