Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award is prestigious award in India and it is a symbol of excellence in Indian sports. It inspires millions of players from different fields including tennis, chess, badminton, cricket, billiards, and many more. Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award winner list 2025 was declared on 2nd January 2025 to give the honor of outstanding performance and dedication of athletes. Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award which is currently known as Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. In the year 2021, the government of India renamed the name in remembrance of Major Dhayn Chand, who was a famous Hockey player from India. This award is comprised of a certificate and a cash prize.
Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award winner list 2025
Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award was conferred to the winners with exceptional performance in various fields of sports in India. This award is an honor to the remarkable personalities from sports. This is a prestigious award for the winner and it is associated with the cash prize of Rs.25 Lakhs. It is the recognition of Indian athletes who have performed excellently in the last four years. The Khel Ratna Award was first introduced in the year 1990-92 for eminent sports personalities.
Here is a list of people who are conferred with Khel Ratna Award for the year 2025.
- Ankita Raina, a famous tennis Indian player who is in number one position for singles and doubles has been awarded Khel Ratna Award for the year 2025 due to her excellence in tennis. She won the Arjuna Award and Asian Games Bronze Medal also. She is very promising tennis player and won the title on WTA tour. She was conferred with 11 singles and 20 doubles titles on ITF circuits. She has come within the 200 singles ranking for the first time as woman from India and representing our country as a WTA level title winner. She is the first woman who win the Grand Slam doubles title in Australian opening from India.
- Neeraj Chopra, a javelin thrower was in the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award winner list 2025. He had the splendid performance in javelin throwing. He has become the first Asian Jevelin throw athlete. He won the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo by throwing javelin by 87.58m in the year 2020. He is the first Indian who win the gold medal in Javelin throw. He is the second gold medalist after shooter Abhinav Bindra. Neeraj Chopra’s best throw was at Stockholm Diamond League in the year 2022, where he threw javelin for 89.94m. In Paris 2024 Olympics he won silver medal and proved himself as one of the best Javelin players.
- Saikhom Mirabai Chanu, a renowned weightlifter was awarded with Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award. She won the silver medal in Tokyo Olympics. She won gold in Common Wealth games three times. She is one of the fittest world champions in weightlifting from India. Mirabai won the Olympic in weightlifting from India in the year 2020 after twenty years when Malleswari won bronze medal in this same category. She is also the second Indian woman after PV Sindhu who won the silver gold medal in the Olympic. Apart from this, she won multiple gold medals at various international championships and gold medals at Asian Games.
- R Praggananandhaa, the youngest chess player of India was in the list of in the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award winner list 2025. He has world ranking of 14 as chess player. His current ranking in India as chess player is four just after Viswanathan Anand and his chess FIDE rating is 2741. Praggananandhaa has a long list of winning records. He is the second youngest grandmaster after Karjakin. He won the World Youth Chess Championship in the year 2013 and he has been awarded the title of FIDE master. He reached the final of the Chess World Cup 2023. He won Tata Steel Chess Tournament in 2025 tied at 8.5-8.5 with Gukesh Dommaraju.
FAQ:
What is Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award?
Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award is the recognition for exceptional performance in sports.
Which is the highest prestigious award in Sports?
Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award or Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award is the highest prestigious award in the sports.
Who was first awarded Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award?
Viswanathan Ananda was the first recipient of Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award
When was Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award started?
It started from the year 1991-1992.
