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On Thursday, October 24, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) announced that they are discontinuing the Dhyan Chand Award for Lifetime Achievement from the year 2024 onwards, while replacing it with the Arjuna Award Lifetime. The decision from the Indian sports ministry was an effort to “rationalise” the different kinds of honours given to the sportspersons in the country.
For the unversed, the Dhyan Chand Award for Lifetime Achievement, named after Indian hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand, was introduced in 2002, to reward the top performers in various sporting disciplines at the Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, Asian Games, and Commonwealth Games, among others. As per the report from Sportstar, this award was given to former badminton player Manjusha Kanwar, ex-hockey star Vineet Kumar, and kabaddi player Kavitah Selvaraj last year.
To recognise the efforts of coaches at grassroots/development level, they are now eligible for the Dronacharya Award: Indian Sports Ministry
In their official statement, the Indian sports ministry addressed why the Dhyan Chand Award for Lifetime Achievement was renamed to Arjuna Award Lifetime, and said, “The various schemes for sports awards have been rationalised wherein Arjuna Award (Lifetime) has been introduced in place of Dhyan Chand Award. To recognise the efforts of coaches at grassroots/development level, they are now eligible for the Dronacharya Award.”
“The Arjuna Award (Lifetime) has been introduced and will be given for lifetime contribution to sports development. Further, to recognize the Khelo India scheme, the Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy will be given to the University for Overall Top Performance in Khelo India University Games,” the MYAS further added.
Moreover, the last date for Indian sports federations to apply for the national sports awards for the ongoing year is November 14.
