Which of the following awards has not been received by P.R. Sreejesh during his career ?

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — D, the Dronacharya Award. The Dronacharya Award is India's national honour for coaches, not for players, and P.R. Sreejesh — the goalkeeper of the Indian men's hockey team — has not received it. His decorations are all player awards: the Arjuna Award in 2015, the Padma Shri in 2017, the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna in 2021 (the year of the Tokyo bronze), and the Padma Bhushan announced in January 2025, just weeks before this paper was set. He retired from international hockey after the Paris 2024 Olympics and has since moved into coaching Indian junior hockey, but that is a role, not this award. (Note: option B is printed in the booklet as 'Dyan Chand Khel Ratna Award' — the commission's own typographical slip. The award's correct name is the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award.)

Why the other options are wrong — (a) He received it in 2015. The Arjuna Award recognises consistently outstanding performance by a sportsperson over four years.  (b) He received the Khel Ratna in 2021. India's highest sporting honour was renamed from the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna to the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna in August 2021 — the same year it went to Sreejesh.  (c) He was named for the Padma Bhushan in the Republic Day 2025 list; he had already held the Padma Shri since 2017.

Concept: India's sports honours are separated strictly by purpose, and every 'which award did X not get' question is really testing that split. The Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna is the highest sporting honour, for the most spectacular performance by a player over the previous four years. The Arjuna Award is for consistently outstanding performance over four years. The Dronacharya Award is exclusively for coaches. The Dhyan Chand Award (instituted 2002) is the lifetime-achievement honour for players. The Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar goes to organisations and corporates that promote sport. Running alongside, and awarded by a different process, are the civilian Padma honours.

State PCS 2025 Q55 — Current Affairs & Sports PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2025 Q55 — Current Affairs & Sports PYQ with Answer