For the greater objective to acknowledge the excellence of the sports coach, the government of India presents the Dronacharya Award. ". This award is indeed a great acknowledgement that a sportsperson can achieve, only after the hard work of several years.
Dronacharya Award comprises a statuette of Dronacharya which is intricately carved out in bronze, a cash component of Rs 3000000 and also a scroll of honour. It was in the year 1985, the award was first instituted. The naming of the award has indeed the reference of the Mahabharata and as the best sportsperson award is named as the Arjuna Award so quite ideally the coaching award is named after, Dronacharya (as he was the guru (coach) of Arjuna. ) to recognise the guru shishya parampara and to honour the Guru .
| Year |
Name of the Sportsperson(s) |
Sport Discipline |
| 1985 |
O.M. Nambiar |
Athletics |
| 1985 |
Om Prakash Bhardwaj |
Boxing |
| 1985 |
Bhalchandra Bhaskar Bhagwat |
Wrestling |
| 1986 |
Raghunandan Vasant Gokhle |
Chess |
| 1986 |
Desh Prem Azad |
Cricket |
| 1987 |
Gurcharan Singh |
Cricket |
| 1987 |
Guru Hanuman |
Wrestling |
| 1990 |
Ramakant Achrekar |
Cricket |
| 1990 |
Syed Naeemuddin |
Football |
| 1990 |
A Ramana Rao |
Volleyball |
| 1994 |
Ilyas Babar |
Athletics |
| 1995 |
Karan Singh |
Athletics |
| 1995 |
M. Shyam Sunder Rao |
Volleyball |
| 1996 |
Wilson Jones |
Billiards & Snooker |
| 1996 |
Pal Singh Sandhu |
Weightlifting |
| 1997 |
Joginder Singh Saini |
Athletics |
| 1998 |
Bahadur Singh |
Athletics |
| 1998 |
Hargobind Singh Sandhu |
Athletics |
| 1998 |
G.S.Sandhu |
Boxing |
| 1999 |
Kenneth Owen Bosen |
Athletics |
| 1999 |
Capt. Hawa Singh |
Boxing |
| 1999 |
Ajay Kumar Sirohi |
Weightlifting |
| 2000 |
S.M. Arif |
Badminton |
| 2000 |
Gudial Singh Bhangu |
Hockey |
| 2000 |
Phadke Gopal Pushottam |
Kho-Kho |
| 2000 |
Bhupender Dhawan |
Powerlifting |
| 2000 |
Hansa Sharma |
Weightlifting |
| 2001 |
Prof. Sunny Thomas |
Shooting |
| 2001 |
Michael Joseph Ferreira |
Billiards & Snooker |
| 2002 |
Renu Kohli |
Athletics |
| 2002 |
Jaswant Singh |
Athletics |
| 2002 |
M.K. Kaushik |
Hockey |
| 2002 |
E. Prasad Rao |
Kabaddi |
| 2002 |
Cdr. H.D. Motivala |
Yachting |
| 2003 |
Robert Bobby George |
Athletics |
| 2003 |
Anup Kumar |
Boxing |
| 2003 |
Rajinder Singh |
Hockey |
| 2003 |
Sukhchain Singh Cheema |
Wrestling |
| 2004 |
Arvind Savur |
Billiards & Snooker |
| 2004 |
Sunita Sharma |
Cricket |
| 2004 |
Cyrus Poncha |
Squash |
| 2004 |
Gurcharan Singh |
Boxing |
| 2005 |
Hony. Captain M Venu |
Boxing |
| 2005 |
Balwan Singh |
Kabaddi |
| 2005 |
Maha Singh Rao |
Wrestling |
| 2005 |
Ismail Baig |
Rowing |
| 2006 |
R D Singh |
Athletics |
| 2006 |
Damodaran Chandralal |
Boxing |
| 2006 |
Koneru Ashok |
Chess |
| 2007 |
Sanjeev Kumar Singh |
Archery |
| 2007 |
Jagdish Singh |
Boxing |
| 2007 |
G.E. Sridharan |
Volley Ball |
| 2007 |
Jagminder Singh |
Wrestling |
| 2008 |
Sanjeeva Kumar Singh |
Archery |
| 2008 |
Jagdish Singh |
Boxing |
| 2008 |
G E Sridharan |
Volleyball |
| 2008 |
Jagminder Singh |
Wrestling |
