List of Arjuna Award recipients (1961–1969)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Arjuna Award
Civilian award for outstanding individual achievements in National Sports
Sponsored byGovernment of India
Established1961
Highlights
Total awarded95 individuals + 1 team award

The Arjuna Award, officially known as the Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games,[1] is a 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$21,000)."[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. 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 the 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 95 individual awards were presented in the 1960s: twenty in 1961, followed by nine in 1962, seven in 1963, seven in 1964, seven in 1965, thirteen in 1966, fifteen in 1967, seven in 1968, and ten in 1969. Individuals from twenty-one different sports were awarded, which include thirteen from hockey, twelve from athletics, eight from football, seven each from cricket and wrestling, six from weightlifting, five each from badminton and table tennis, four each from basketball, boxing, lawn tennis and swimming, three each from golf, polo and shooting, two each from squash and volleyball, and one each from billiards & snooker, chess and gymnastics.[9] In an unusual move, the first and only team award to date was presented to the entire team of twenty mountaineers in 1965 representing the successful Indian Everest expedition of 1965.[2][10]

Amongst the notable winners was Manuel Aaron, awarded in 1961. He was India's first chess International Master (IM). He obtained the title in 1961 and India did not produce a second IM for the next seventeen years. He dominated the chess in India, becoming national champion nine times between 1959 and 1981.[11][12] Hockey players Charanjit Singh and Shankar Lakshman were awarded in 1963 and 1964 respectively. The former was the captain of the gold winning Indian men's hockey team at 1964 Summer Olympics at Tokyo.[13] The latter was the goalkeeper of the Indian team in the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Olympics, helping the team win two gold medals and one silver medal.[14]

List of recipients[]

Award recipients by year[9][10]
Year Number of recipients
1961
20
1962
9
1963
7
1964
7
1965
7(+ 1 team award)
1966
13
1967
15
1968
7
1969
10
Award recipients by sport[9][10]
Sport Number of recipients
Athletics
12
Badminton
5
Basketball
4
Billiards & Snooker
1
Boxing
4
Chess
1
Cricket
7
Football
8
Golf
3
Gymnastics
1
Hockey
13
Lawn Tennis
4
Mountaineering
1(team award)
Polo
3
Shooting
3
Squash
2
Swimming
4
Table Tennis
5
Volleyball
2
Weightlifting
6
Wrestling
7
Award recipients by gender[9]
Gender Number of recipients
Female
10
Male
85
Manuel Aaron
List of Arjuna award recipients, showing the year, sport, and gender[9]
Year Recipient Sport Gender
1961 Manuel Aaron Chess Male
1961 P. K. Banerjee Football Male
1961 Udey Chand Wrestling Male
1961 Boxing Male
1961 Salim Durani Cricket Male
1961 Weightlifting Male
1961 Squash Male
1961 Ramanathan Krishnan Lawn Tennis Male
1961 Sham Lal Gymnastics Male
1961 Hockey Female
1961 Nandu M. Natekar Badminton Male
1961 A. Palanisamy Volleyball Male
1961 Swimming Male
1961 Gurbachan Singh Randhawa Athletics Male
1961 P. G. Sethi Golf Male
1961 Karni Singh Shooting Male
1961 Prem Singh Polo Male
1961 Prithipal Singh Hockey Male
1961 Basketball Male
1961 Table Tennis Male
1962 Tulsidas Balaram Football Male
1962 Nripjit Singh Bedi Volleyball Male
1962 Weightlifting Male
1962 Wilson Jones Billiards Male
1962 Naresh Kumar Lawn Tennis Male
1962 Boxing Male
1962 Meena Shah Badminton Female
1962 Malwa Singh Wrestling Male
1962 Tarlok Singh Athletics Male
1963 Wrestling Male
1963 Stephie D'Souza Athletics Female
1963 Chuni Goswami Football Male
1963 Golf Male
1963 Kamineni Eswara Rao Weightlifting Male
1963 Charanjit Singh Hockey Male
1963 Kishen Singh Polo Male
1964 Table Tennis Male
1964 Shankar Lakshman Hockey Male
1964 Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi Cricket Male
1964 Bishambar Singh Wrestling Male
1964 Hanut Singh Polo Male
1964 Jarnail Singh Football Male
1964 Makhan Singh Athletics Male
1965 Weightlifting Male
1965 Hockey Female
1965 Football Male
1965 Dinesh Khanna Badminton Male
1965 Vijay Manjrekar Cricket Male
1965 Kenneth Powell Athletics Male
1965 Udham Singh Hockey Male
1966 Bhogeswar Baruah Athletics Male
1966 Chandu Borde Cricket Male
1966 Table Tennis Female
1966 Swimming Female
1966 Mohon Lal Ghosh Weightlifting Male
1966 Yousuf Khan Football Male
1966 Jaidip Mukerjea Lawn Tennis Male
1966 John Peter Hockey Male
1966 Sunita Puri Hockey Female
1966 Ajmer Singh Athletics Male
1966 Bhim Singh Wrestling Male
1966 Gurbaksh Singh Hockey Male
1966 Hawa Singh Boxing Male
1967 Weightlifting Male
1967 Suresh Goel Badminton Male
1967 Table Tennis Male
1967 Mohinder Lal Hockey Male
1967 Premjit Lall Lawn Tennis Male
1967 Golf Male
1967 Khushi Ram Basketball Male
1967 Swimming Male
1967 Bhim Singh Athletics Male
1967 Harbinder Singh Hockey Male
1967 Jagjit Singh Hockey Male
1967 Mukhtiar Singh Wrestling Male
1967 Athletics Male
1967 Peter Thangaraj Football Male
1967 Ajit Wadekar Cricket Male
1968 Balbir Singh Kular Hockey Male
1968 Rajyashree Kumari Shooting Female
1968 E. A. S. Prasanna Cricket Male
1968 Basketball Male
1968 Joginder Singh Athletics Male
1968 Boxing Male
1968 Manjit Walia Athletics Female
1969 Mir Khasim Ali Table Tennis Male
1969 Bishan Singh Bedi Cricket Male
1969 Basketball Male
1969 Dipu Ghosh Badminton Male
1969 Bhuvaneshwari Kumari Shooting Female
1969 Swimming Male
1969 Anil Nayar Squash Male
1969 Chandgi Ram Wrestling[b] Male
1969 Harnek Singh Athletics Male
1969 Inder Singh Football Male
1965 Everest Expedition stamp

An Indian postage stamp (pictured) commemorated Indian's first successful Everest Expedition in 1965 (awarded team award in 1965). Avtar Singh Cheema and Nawang Gombu as seen here reached the summit in the morning of 19 May 1965. India in a single expedition placed nine men on the top of Everest, an unbroken record for the next 17 years.[15]

List of Arjuna team award recipients, showing the year, event, and gender[10]
Year Recipient Event Gender
1965 H. P. S. Ahluwalia 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male
1965 Harsh Vardhan Bahuguna 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male
1965 C. Balakrishanan 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male
1965 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male
1965 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male
1965 Avtar Singh Cheema 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male
1965 Nawang Gombu 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male
1965 Sonam Gyatso 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male
1965 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male
1965 Ang Kami 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male
1965 Mohan Singh Kohli 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male
1965 Narendra Kumar 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male
1965 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male
1965 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male
1965 Harish Chandra Singh Rawat 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male
1965 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male
1965 Gurdial Singh 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male
1965 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male
1965 Chandra Prakash Vohra 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male
1965 Sonam Wangyal 1965 Indian Everest Expedition Male

Explanatory notes[]

  1. ^ The cash prize was introduced in the year 1977–1978 as a scholarship of ₹200 (US$2.80) a month for 2 years.[16] It was revised to one time cash prize of ₹5,000 (US$70) in 1986,[17] to ₹20,000 (US$280) in 1987,[18] to ₹50,000 (US$700) in 1993,[19] to ₹1.5 lakh (US$2,100) in 1998,[20] to ₹3 lakh (US$4,200) in 2001,[21] to ₹5 lakh (US$7,000) in 2009,[22] and to ₹15 lakh (US$21,000) in 2020.[23]
  2. ^ Indian style wrestling

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: 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. ^ Jump up to: a b 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. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "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. ^ Jump up to: a b c d "Arjuna Award for Everest Team" (PDF) (Press release). Press Information Bureau, India. 26 June 1965. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 October 2020. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  11. ^ Mathai, Kamini (9 November 2013). "Tamil Nadu was a hotbed for chess in the 1960s". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 8 December 2013. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  12. ^ Bharadwaj, D.K. (13 May 2003). "A Big Boom in the Brain Game". Press Information Bureau, India (Press release). Archived from the original on 17 October 2007. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  13. ^ "1964 Tokyo Olympics". Bharatiya Hockey. Archived from the original on 29 June 2007. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  14. ^ "1956 Melbourne Olympics". Bharatiya Hockey. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  15. ^ Das, Sujoy (3 July 2015). "Celebrating India's successful Mount Everest expedition of 1965". Outlook Traveler. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  16. ^ "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.
  17. ^ "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.
  18. ^ "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.
  19. ^ "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.
  20. ^ "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.
  21. ^ "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.
  22. ^ "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.
  23. ^ "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.

External links[]

Retrieved from ""