[In Pictures] Arjuna Award Winners 2023 honored by President of India in New Delhi

The President of India, Droupadi Murmu, on Tuesday (January 9) conferred the recipients of the Arjuna Award for the year 2023 at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in the national capital, New Delhi.

As many as 26 sportspersons across different sporting disciplines were nominated for the nation's second-highest sporting honor to commemorate their excellence and achievements at the global level.

The exemplary performancs of players at the Asian Games 2022 (held in 2023), Para Asian Games 2022 (held in 2023), and other World Cup and World Championship events were considered.

A selection committee led by Justice A. M. Khanwilkar named the final list of the recipients of the Arjuna Awards for the year 2023. The committee also included members from eminent sportspersons, persons having experience in sports journalism and sports administrators.

Based on the recommendations of the Committee and after due scrutiny, the Sports Ministry decided to confer the awards to 26 players in the country. Here's the list of Arjuna Award winners 2023 before we move on to the pictures.

Arjuna Award winners 2023: Ojas Pravin Deotale (archery), Aditi Gopichand Swami (archery), Murali Sreeshankar (athletics), Parul Chaudhary (athletics), Mohammad Hussamuddin (boxing), R Vaishali (chess), Mohammed Shami (cricket), Anush Agarwalla (equestrian), Divyakriti Singh (equestrian dressage), Diksha Dagar (golf), Krishan Bahadur Pathak (hockey), Sushila Chanu (hockey), Pawan Kumar (kabaddi), Ritu Negi (kabaddi), Nasreen Shaikh (kho-kho), Pinki Singh (lawn bowls), Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar (shooting), Esha Singh (shooting), Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (squash), Ayhika Mukherjee (table tennis), Sunil Kumar (wrestling), Antim Panghal (wrestling), Naorem Roshibina Devi (wushu), Sheetal Devi (para archery), Illuri Ajay Kumar Reddy (blind cricket), Prachi Yadav (para canoeing)

Only young shooter Esha Singh from the aforementioned list was not present at the award ceremony because she recently participated in the Asian Olympic Qualifier in Jakarta. You can check out the pictures of some of the players being conferred with the Arjuna Award by President Droupadi Murmu below:

What is the eligibility of the Arjuna Award 2023 winner?

According to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, the criteria eligible for a sportsperson to nominate his/her name for the Arjuna Award is as following:

To be eligible for the Award, a sportsperson should have had not only good performance over the previous four years at the International level but also should have shown qualities of leadership, sportsmanship and a sense of discipline. During the years when Olympic Games, Commonwealth and Asian Games are held, achievements of the sportspersons in these Games and other international tournaments upto the conclusion of the Olympic Games/Commonwealth Games/Asian Games, as the case may be, will also be considered.
Sportspersons who have been penalized or against whom enquiry is pending/ongoing for use of drugs/substances banned by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) based on a sample collected by the National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) or any other agency authorized by WADA and tested by National Dope Testing Laboratory or any other WADA accredited laboratory, will not be eligible for the Award.
The Government will only consider conferring Arjuna Award in the disciplines falling under the following categories:-
a) Olympic Games/Asian Games/Commonwealth Games/World Cup/Word Championship disciplines and cricket or any equivalent recognized international Tournament.
b) Indigenous Games.
c) Sports for physically challenged