List of Arjuna Award recipients (1970–1979)

Arjuna Award
Civilian award for outstanding individual achievements in National Sports
Sponsored byGovt. of India
Established1961
First awarded1961
Highlights
Total awarded136

The Arjuna Award, officially known as the Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games,[1] is the sports honour of 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]

Name

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

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

A total of 136 awards were presented in the 1970s – thirteen in 1970, followed by twelve in 1971, fourteen in 1972, seventeen in 1973, fourteen in 1974, nineteen in 1975, ten in 1976, ten in 1977–1978, sixteen in 1978–1979 and eleven in 1979–1980. Individuals from twenty-eight different sports were awarded, which includes fourteen from athletics, thirteen from hockey, nine each from cricket and volleyball, eight from weightlifting, seven each from badminton, basketball and kho kho, six each from boxing and swimming, five each from ball badminton, football, table tennis and wrestling, four from golf, three each from billiards, kabaddi, shooting and yachting, two each from bodybuilding, cycling, equestrian and lawn tennis, and one each from gymnastics, polo, powerlifting, snooker and squash.[9]

List of recipients

Award recipients by year[9]
Year Number of recipients
1970
13
1971
12
1972
14
1973
17
1974
14
1975
19
1976
10
1977–1978
10
1978–1979
16
1979–1980
11
Award recipients by sport[9]
Sport Number of recipients
Athletics
14
Badminton
7
Ball Badminton
5
Basketball
7
Billiards
3
Bodybuilding
2
Boxing
6
Cricket
9
Cycling
2
Equestrian
2
Football
5
Golf
4
Gymnastics
1
Hockey
13
Kabaddi
3
Kho kho
7
Lawn Tennis
2
Polo
1
Powerlifting
1
Shooting
3
Snooker
1
Squash
1
Swimming
6
Table Tennis
5
Volleyball
9
Weightlifting
8
Wrestling
5
Yachting
3
Key
§ Indicates Para sports
List of Arjuna award recipients, showing the year, sport, and gender[9]
Year Recipient Sport Gender
1970 S. J. Contractor Yachting Male
1970 Arun Kumar Dass Weightlifting Male
1970 Michael Ferreira Billiards Male
1970 Mohinder Singh Gill Athletics Male
1970 Gudalore Jagannath Table Tennis Male
1970 Sudesh Kumar Wrestling Male
1970 Gulam Abbas Moontasir Basketball Male
1970 Syed Nayeemuddin Football Male
1970 Sudhir B. Parab Kho kho Male
1970 J. Pitchayya Ball Badminton Male
1970 Dilip Sardesai Cricket Male
1970 Ajit Pal Singh Hockey Male
1970 Damayanti Tambay Badminton Female
1971 Achala Suberao Devra Kho kho Male
1971 Kaity Farookh Khodaiji Table Tennis Female
1971 Sobha Morthy Badminton Female
1971 Krishnamurthy Perumal Hockey Male
1971 Shyamlal Salwan Weightlifting Male
1971 Edward Sequeira Athletics Male
1971 Bhanwar Singh Swimming Male
1971 Bhim Singh Shooting Male
1971 C. P. Singh Football Male
1971 M. M. Singh Basketball Male
1971 Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan Cricket Male
1971 Muniswamy Venu Boxing Male
1972 B. S. Chandrashekhar Cricket Male
1972 Vijay Singh Chauhan Athletics Male
1972 Udayan Chinubhai Shooting Male
1972 Anjani N. Desai Golf Female
1972 Michael Kindo Hockey Male
1972 Anil Kumar Mandal Weightlifting Male
1972 Satish Kumar Mohan Billiards Male
1972 Chandraya Narayanan Boxing Male
1972 Prem Nath Wrestling Male
1972 Prakash Padukone Badminton Male
1972 S. M. Shetty Kabaddi Male
1972 Balwant Singh Volleyball Male
1972 Eknath Solkar Cricket Male
1972 Jayamma Srinivasan Ball Badminton Female
1973 Niraj Ramkrishna Bajaj Table Tennis Male
1973 M. P. Ganesh Hockey Male
1973 Bhola Nath Guin Kabaddi Male
1973 Afsar Hussain Yachting Male
1973 A. Kareem Ball Badminton Male
1973 Surendra Kumar Kataria Basketball Male
1973 Dafadar Md. Khan Equestrian Male
1973 Dhanvir Khatau Swimming Male
1973 O. Mascarenhas Hockey Female
1973 B. H. Parikh Kho kho Female
1973 Magan Singh Rajvi Football Male
1973 G. Mulilini Reddy Volleyball Female
1973 Shyam Shroff Billiards Male
1973 Jagroop Singh Wrestling Male
1973 Mehtab Singh Boxing Male
1973 Sriram Singh Athletics Male
1973 Vikramjit Singh Golf Male
1974 Vijay Amritraj Lawn Tennis Male
1974 Manjari Bhargava Swimming[b] Female
1974 Anjan Bhattacharjee Cricket§ Male
1974 Raman Ghosh Badminton Male
1974 Ajinder Kaur Hockey Female
1974 Ashok Kumar Hockey Male
1974 Anil Kumar Punj Basketball Male
1974 Shivnath Singh Rajput Athletics Male
1974 M. Syamsunder Rao Volleyball Male
1974 Avinash B. Sarang Swimming[c] Male
1974 N. C. Sarolkar Kho kho Female
1974 Satpal Singh Wrestling Male
1974 S. Vellaiswamy Weightlifting Male
1974 T. C. Yohannan Athletics Male
1975 Devinder Ahuja Badminton Male
1975 V. Anusuya Bai Athletics Female
1975 Hari Chand Athletics Male
1975 Mantu Debnath Gymnastics Male
1975 Smita Desai Swimming Female
1975 K. C. Elamma Volleyball Female
1975 Sunil Gavaskar Cricket Male
1975 B. P. Govinda Hockey Male
1975 Shreerang J. Inamdar Kho kho Male
1975 L. A. Iqbal Ball Badminton Male
1975 S. K. Jamshed Golf Male
1975 Usha Vasant Nagarkar Kho kho Female
1975 M. S. Rana Swimming Male
1975 Rupa Saini Hockey Female
1975 Amar Singh Cycling Male
1975 Dalbir Singh Weightlifting Male
1975 Hanuman Singh Basketball Male
1975 Ranvir Singh Volleyball Male
1975 V. P. Singh Polo Male
1976 K. Balamuruganandam Weightlifting Male
1976 Bahadur Singh Chouhan Athletics Male
1976 A. Sam Christ Das Ball Badminton Male
1976 S. R. Dharwadkar Kho kho Male
1976 Jimmy George Volleyball Male
1976 Ami Ghia Badminton Female
1976 Shantha Rangaswamy Cricket Female
1976 Shailaja Salokhe Table Tennis Female
1976 H. S. Sodhi Equestrian Male
1976 Geeta Zutshi Athletics Female
1977–1978 Leslie Fernandez Hockey Female
1977–1978 Satish Kumar Athletics§ Male
1977–1978 A. Ramana Rao Volleyball Male
1977–1978 Sita Rawlley Golf Female
1977–1978 M. T. Selvan Weightlifting Male
1977–1978 Harcharan Singh Hockey Male
1977–1978 Kanwal Thakar Singh Badminton Female
1977–1978 Birender Singh Thapa Boxing Male
1977–1978 T. Vijayaraghava Basketball Male
1977–1978 Gundappa Viswanath Cricket Male
1978–1979 Suresh Babu Athletics Male
1978–1979 Shubrata Dutta Powerlifting Male
1978–1979 Gurdev Singh Gill Football Male
1978–1979 Angel Mary Joseph Athletics Female
1978–1979 Ekambaram Karunakaran Weightlifting Male
1978–1979 Shernaz Kermani Paraplegics§[d] Female
1978–1979 S. P. Khatavkar Kabaddi Female
1978–1979 Kutty Krishnan Volleyball Male
1978–1979 C. C. Machaiah Boxing Male
1978–1979 Minati Mahapatra Cycling Female
1978–1979 Nirupama Mankad Lawn Tennis Female
1978–1979 S. K. Mongia Yachting Male
1978–1979 Monotosh Roy Bodybuilding Male
1978–1979 Arvind Savur Snooker Male
1978–1979 Rajinder Singh Wrestling Male
1978–1979 Randhir Singh Shooting Male
1979–1980 Prasun Banerjee Football Male
1979–1980 Vasudevan Baskaran Hockey Male
1979–1980 Kapil Dev Cricket Male
1979–1980 Ramaswamy Gnanasekaran Athletics Male
1979–1980 Rajkumar Manchanda Squash Male
1979–1980 Suresh Kumar Mishra Volleyball Male
1979–1980 Rekha B. Mundhphan Hockey Female
1979–1980 Sunil Kumar Patra Bodybuilding Male
1979–1980 Om Prakash Basketball Male
1979–1980 Indu Puri Table Tennis Female
1979–1980 Bakshish Singh Boxing Male

Explanatory notes

  1. ^ The cash prize was introduced in the year 1977–1978 as a scholarship of ₹200 (US$2.30) a month for 2 years.[10] It was revised to one time cash prize of ₹5,000 (US$59) in 1986,[11] to ₹20,000 (US$230) in 1987,[12] to ₹50,000 (US$590) in 1993,[13] to ₹1.5 lakh (US$1,800) in 1998,[14] to ₹3 lakh (US$3,500) in 2001,[15] to ₹5 lakh (US$5,900) in 2009,[16] and to ₹15 lakh (US$18,000) in 2020.[17]
  2. ^ Diving
  3. ^ Long-distance swimming
  4. ^ Wheelchair, Javelin throw, Swimming & Table Tennis

References

  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.
    • "Arjuna Award Winners 1961-1973" (PDF) (Press release). Press Information Bureau, India. 10 August 1974. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
    • "Arjuna Awards-1974" (PDF) (Press release). Press Information Bureau, India. 10 December 1975. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
    • "Arjuna Award for 19" (PDF) (Press release). Press Information Bureau, India. 30 April 1977. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  10. ^ "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.
  11. ^ "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.
  12. ^ "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.
  13. ^ "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.
  14. ^ "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.
  15. ^ "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.
  16. ^ "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.
  17. ^ "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.