New Delhi: The sports ministry will discontinue the Dhyan Chand Award for lifetime achievement with the Arjuna Award Lifetime taking its place in the list of national sports awards.
The change will come into effect from 2024 onwards as the ministry bids to “rationalise” the country’s different honours.
The lifetime award was introduced in 2002 and was named after hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand.
It is conferred on personalities in sporting disciplines that are included in the Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games, among others.
“Arjuna Award (Lifetime) has been introduced and will be given for life time contribution to sports development,” the
Former badminton player Manjusha Kanwar, ex-hockey star Vineet Kumar and kabaddi player Kavitha Selvaraj received the Dhyan Chand Award for lifetime achievement in 2023.
“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 ministry said in a statement.’
“The Arjuna Award (Lifetime) has been introduced and will be given for life time 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,” it added.
The ministry invited applications for these sports awards for the year 2024 and said the last date for applying for the national awards is November 14.
