Comparative Analysis of Sports Awards In Different Games In India

India first participated at the Olympic Games in 1900, with an athlete (Norman Pritchard) winning two medals in athletics. He is the only Indian Olympic medalist to have never received a Padma Award. The nation first sent a team to the Summer Olympic Games 1920. India won its first gold medal in men’s field hockey in the 1928 Olympic Games, and has participated in every Summer Olympic Games ever since The history of sports in India dates back to the Vedic era. Physical culture in ancient India was fuelled by religious rights. The mantra in the Atharvaveda, says, “Duty is in my right hand and the fruits of victory in my left.” In terms of an ideal, these words hold the same sentiments as the traditional Olympic Oath: “For the Honor of my Country and the Glory of Sport.”Badminton probably originated in India as a grownup's version of a very old children’s game known in England as Battledore and Shuttlecock, the battledore being a paddle and the shuttlecock a small feathered cork, now usually called a “bird.”

The Arjuna Award was instituted in 1961 as the highest national recognition for outstanding performance in sports and games in the Olympics, Asian Games, and Commonwealth Games, World Cup, World Championship disciplines and Cricket. However, controversy over selection has dogged the awards ever since its inception in 1961. As per the revised scheme from April 2002, the objective of Arjun Awards is to recognize outstanding performance of sports persons, at International level only. The winners will be decided by a selection committee comprising of a chairperson, who is sports person of eminence and 12 other members distinguished in the field of sports including 5 Olympians and 4 Arjuna Awardees from different disciplines, 2 sports administrator’s and a member secretary of the committee who would be the directory deputy secretary (sports) from the ministry of youth affairs and sports. The chairperson of the committee in consultation with the member secretary may constitute panels from among its member to assist the committee in choosing the winners, under the scheme; The Awardee is given a bronze statuette of Arjuna, a scroll and a cash prize of 3 lakh rupees along with a monogram, a blazer and a tie.

The first objective of Dhronacharya Award is to honor the contribution and role of instructors, trainers and coaches on a consistent basis leading toward unmatched performance by the sportspersons trained by them. The train sportspersons in order to help them attain success at the global sports events. Dhronacharya Award is given to the trainers and coaches with consistent outstanding performance in a global Olympic events, sports disciplines recognized by the government and indigenous sports recognized by the government. A trainer or a coach promoting or conniving the use of banned drugs is also not considered to be qualified to receive the coveted award. The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna (RGKR) is india’s highest honour given for achievement in sports. The words “Khel Ratna” literally mean “sports gem” in Hindi. The award is named after the late Rajiv Gandhi; former is named after the late Rajiv Gandhi, former prime minister of India. It carries a medal, a component. Up to 2004 -05, the cash component was 5 lakh. The money has been increased from 5 lakh to 7.5 lakh. The Award was instituted in the year 1991-92 to supply the lack of a supreme national accolade in the field of sports. Predating the RGKR are the Arjuna awards that have always been given to outstanding sportsperson in each of many sporting disciplines every year. The Khel Ratna was devised to be an overarching honor, conferred for outstanding sporting performance, whether by an individual or a team, across all sporting disciplines in a given year.

The data pertaining to recipients of Arjuna Award, Dhronacharya Award, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, , was collected from the official website of ministry of youth affairs of sports, ministry of home affairs government of India and Indian Olympic association. The list of the above awards was taken year wise since the inception of these awards. The data collected has been further classified as per different games in sports. The data collected from various sources was analyzed by using percentile and statistics. The data was organized on the basis of the sport and gender.

i.e. 14.02% followed by hockey. The third highest recipient of Arjuna award has been in Cricket followed by wrestling. The table also reveals that the lowest percentage of Award has been in Wushu, Polo, and in Carrom, i.e. 0.15% followed by Cycling and Squash i.e. 0.45% the third lowest has been in Ball badminton and Gymnastics i.e. 0.91%. It is evident from the above table that only 81 sports persons have been awarded Arjuna Award over a period of 28 years. In order to analyses the percentages wise distribution of Dhronacharya Award in different sports in India, the data analyses is presented in table no.2

It is evident from the above table that highest percentages of Dhronacharya Award have been in Athletics i.e.22.2%, followed by boxing i.e.16.04%. The third highest recipient of Dhronacharya Award has been wrestling i.e.11.11% followed by hockey i.e. 9.87%. In order to analyses the percentages wise distribution of Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna in different sports in India, the data analyses is presented in table no. -3

It is evident from the above table that highest percentages of Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award have been in shooting i.e.26.92% followed by Athletics i.e. 11.53%.

Within the limitation of the present study following conclusions may be drawn. 1. It is further concluded that ministry of sports should pay more attention to game like Athletics, Hockey, Cricket, Wrestling, Shooting, Boxing and weight- lifting for winning medals in International competitions rather than paying attention to Carrom, Polo, Wushu, Cycling, Squash, Ball badminton and Gymnastics because India have not done well in these sports. 2. It is further concluded that highest Dronacharya Awardees are from the field of Athletics followed by Boxing and the third highest from the field of wrestling respectively

1. Wikipedia.org/wiki/sports-in-India 2. http://Sports.mapsofindia.com/award s/dronacharya.