Awards 2009

The Government has announced the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Awards, Arjuna Awards, Dhyan Chand Awards, Dronacharya Awards and Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar for the year 2009, in New Delhi. The selection panel for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, Arjuna Award, Dhyan Chand Award and Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar was headed by Kum. Indu Puri while the panel for Dronacharya Award was headed by Shri G.S. Randhawa.

Normally, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award is given to only one sportsperson in a year. Arjuna Award is given to not more than 15, Dhyan Chand Award to not more than 3 and Dronacharya Award to not more than 5 persons. However, taking into consideration the spectacular performance of Shri Vijender in Boxing and Shri Sushil Kumar in Wrestling, both Bronze Medalists in Beijing Olympics, 2008, the Government has accepted the recommendation of the Selection Committee to confer the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award on both of them, as a special case, in addition to Smt. M.C. Marykom.

With a view to recognizing the contribution made to sports development by entities other than sportspersons and coaches, Government has instituted this year, a new award entitled Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar, which has four categories, namely, community sports development, promotion of sports academies of excellence, support to elite sportspersons and employment to sportspersons.

A. Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award - 2009 :

1.	Smt. Mangte Chungneijang Marykom	Boxing (Women)
2.	Shri Vijender	Boxing
3.	Shri Sushil Kumar	Wrestling

B. Arjuna Awards – 2009:

1.	Shri Mangal Singh Champia	Archery
2.	Kum. Sinimole Paulose	Athletics
3.	Kum. Saina Nehwal	Badminton
4.	Smt. Laishram Sarita Devi	Boxing
5.	Kum. Tania Sachdev	Chess
6.	Shri Gautam Gambhir	Cricket
7.	Shri Ignace Tirkey	Hockey (Men)
8.	Kum. Surinder Kaur	Hockey (Women)
9.	Shri Pankaj Navanath Shirsat	Kabaddi
10.	Shri Satish Joshi	Rowing
11.	Shri Ronjan Sodhi	Shooting
12.	Kum. Poulomi Ghatak	Table Tennis
13.	Shri Yogeshwar Dutt	Wrestling
14.	Shri Girdhari Lal Yadav	Yachting
15.	Kum. Parul D. Parmar	Badminton (Disabled)

C. Dhyan Chand Awards – 2009 :

1.	Shri Ishar Singh Deol	Athletics
2.	Shri Satbir Singh Dahya	Wrestling

D. Dronacharya Awards – 2009 :

1.	Shri Pullela Gopichand	Badminton
2.	Shri Jaydev Bisht	Boxing
3.	Shri S. Baldev Singh	Hockey
4.	Shri Satpal	Wrestling

E. Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar, 2009 :

S. No.	Category	Entity recommended for Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar, 2009
1.	Community Sports Identification and Nurturing of Budding Young Talent	TATA Steel Ltd.
2.	Financial Support for Sports Excellence	None qualified
3.	Establishment and Management of Sports Academies of Excellence	TATA Steel Ltd.
4.	Employment of Sportspersons and sports welfare measures	Railways Sports Promotion Board

National Sports Awards are given every year to recognize and reward excellence in sports. Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award is given for spectacular performance in the year under consideration; Arjuna Award is given for consistently outstanding performance for three consecutive years preceding the year of award; Dhyan Chand Award for life time contribution to sports development; and Dronacharya Award for producing medal winners at prestigious international sports events in the past three years.

Apart from a medal and a citation, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Awardees will receive a cash prize of Rs.7.5 lakh each. Arjuna, Dhyan Chand and Dronacharya Awardees will receive statuettes, citations and cash prize of Rs.5 lakh each. The recipients of Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar will receive trophy and citation.