National Sports Awards

National Sports Awards are given every year to recognize and reward excellence in sports. The Government has announced the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, Arjuna Awards, Dhyan Chand Awards, Dronacharya Awards and Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar for the year 2010.


- Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award is given for spectacular performance in the year under consideration. Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award is given to only one sportsperson in a year.

Saina Nehwal

Badminton

- Arjuna Award is given for consistently outstanding performance for three consecutive years preceding the year of award. Arjuna Award is given to not more than 15.

Joseph Abraham	Athletics
Krishna Poonia	Athletics
Dinesh Kumar	Boxing
Parimrajan Negi	Chess
Julan Goswami	Cricket (Women)
Deepak Kumar Mandal	Football
Sandeep Singh	Hockey (Men)
Jasjeet Kaur Handa	Hockey (Women)
Dinesh Kumar	Kabaddi
Sanjeev Rajput	Shooting
Rehan Jehangir Poncha	Swimming
Kapil Dev K.J.	Volleyball
Rajeev Tomar	Wrestling
Rajesh Chaudhary	Yachting
Jagseer Singh	Paralympic (Athletics)

- Dhyan Chand Award 2010 is given for the life time contribution to sport development and it is to not more than 3.

Satish Pillai	Athletics
Kuldeep Singh	Wrestling
Anita Chanu	Weightlifting

- Dronacharya Awards for 2010 is for producing medal winners at prestigious international sports events in past three years. It is to not more than 5 persons.

A.K. Kutty *	Athletics
Subhash B. Aggarwal	Billiards & Snooker
L. Ibomcha Singh	Boxing
Ajay Kumar Bansal	Hockey
Captain Chandrup *	Wrestling

*  For Lifetime contribution in Coaching

- Rashtriya Khel Protsahana Puruskar 2010:
With a view to recognizing the contribution made to sports development by entities other than sportspersons and coaches, Government has instituted last 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.

Category	Entity recommended for Rashtriya Khel Protsahana Puruskar, 2010
Services Sports Control Board	Community Sports Identification and nurturing of budding and young talent
Tata Steel Limited	Financial Support for Sports Excellence
Khel Evam Yuva Vibhag, Government of Madhya Pradesh	Establishment and Management of Sports Academies of Excellence
Services Sports Control Board	Employment of sportsperson and sports welfare measures

Apart from a medal and a citation, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Awardee will receive a cash prize of Rs.7.5 lakh.  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.