Dronacharya Award

The coaches always play a crucial role in shaping an athlete's career as well as the whole team. Such mentorship is rewarded in India by honouring the coach with the Droncacharya award. This is the highest award presented to a coach of any national sport in India.

Birth of Dronacharya Award

The first-ever Dronacharya Award was presented in 1985. However, the award was inspired by Dronacharya, an epic hero from the myths of Mahabharata. He was a military training instructor who trained both Kauravas and Pandavas. For that reason, he was called Guru Drona. In addition, he had a great knowledge of using divine weapons which made him an ideal figure for the highest coaching achievement.

Selection process and Nominations

Though we have briefly touched on this topic earlier, we will delve into it in greater deal here.

The Sports Authority of India and the National Anti Doping Agency must first clear the names of all the nominees. Any athlete who has tested positive for controlled substances is automatically disqualified from the selection process. The preliminary selection committee includes officials from the Sports Ministry, the SAI and the NADA.

In the next stage, all valid names are examined by another committee which has government officials, sports administrators, experts, and previous winners of the Khel Ratna. Every nominee receives marks on the basis of the profile of the competition in which they have won an award. For example, an athlete who has won an Olympic Gold gets 80 points. An Olympic Silver Medalist would get 70 marks, and so on.

In the final stage, the Sports Minister approves the names of athletes selected by the committee.

Over the years, several world champions have received the Major Hyan Chand Khel Award.

How coaches are selected

There is a distinct procedure that is entirely based on two things:

• Contribution of the coach
• His/her coaching's impact on the team or individual athlete's success.

Every year, the Sports Authority of India asks sports federations and boards to nominate coaches. However, only two coaches can be nominated from a single sport.

Upon clearance from the anti-doping agency, names are put forward to the Sports Ministry of India for final approval. There is a point-based ranking system for the unbiased evaluation of performance.

Rules and Requirements

All coaches must complete their registration before the 30th of April in the given year. They should be clear on the ethical rules adopted by the sports federations. Also, the sport must be recognized by the Sports Authority of India. In addition:

• For the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, 80 points are awarded to the coach of the gold medalist, and 70 and 55 points, respectively, to the trainers of the silver and bronze medalists.
• For championships and world cups, 40 points are awarded to the winning team coach, and 30 and 20 points to the second and third-placed team coaches.
• For the Asian Games, the gold winner coaches get 30 points, with 25 and 20 points, respectively to silver and bronze winner coaches.
• For the Commonwealth games, 25, 20, and 15 points are awarded to the gold, silver, and bronze medal-winning coaches, respectively.
• The performance evaluation is based on achievements over the previous four years.

The winner receives a prize of 25,00,000 rupees and a statue of guru Drona.

The First Dronacharya Award ceremony

The first Dronacharya Award was presented in 1985. The ceremony was hosted by the Government of India and the President honoured three coaches for their outstanding achievements in the sports world.

The First Winners of the Dronacharya Awards

This award can be awarded to more than one coach. In some years, as many as 6 coaches have been honoured with Dronacharya Awards. However, in the first year, three outstanding coaches were rewarded. These first winners had not only made an impact on the professional sports world but they had also inspired many young children all around India. The three coaches were:

Bhalchandra Bhaskar Bhagwat - Wrestling

Om Prakash Bhardwaj - Boxing

O. M. Nambiar - Athletics

Winner's List

1986

Desh Prem Azad-Cricket
Raghunandan Vasant Gokhle-Chess

1987

Gurcharan Singh-Cricket
Guru Hanuman-Wrestling

1990

Ramakant Achrekar-Cricket
A. Ramana Rao-Volleyball
Syed Naeemuddin-Football

1994

Ilyas Babar-Athletics

1995

Karan Singh-Athletics
Shyam Sunder Rao-Volleyball

1996

Wilson Jones-Billiards & Snooker
Pal Singh Sandhu-Weightlifting

1997

Joginder Singh Saini-Athletics

1998

G. S. Sandhu-Boxing
Bahadur Singh Chouhan-Athletics
Hargobind Singh Sandhu-Athletics

1999

Hawa Singh-Boxing
Kenneth Owen Bosen -Athletics
Ajay Kumar Sirohi-Weightlifting

2000

Bhupender Dhawan-Powerlifting
S. M. Arif-Badminton
Hansa Sharma-Weightlifting
Gudial Singh Bhangu-Hockey
Gopal Purushottam Phadke-Kho kho

2001

Sunny Thomas-Shooting
Michael Ferreira-Billiards & Snooker

2002

Homi Motivala-Yachting
Maharaj Krishan Kaushik-Hockey
Renu Kohli-Athletics
Jaswant Singh-Athletics
E. Prasad Rao-Kabaddi

2003

Sukhchain Singh Cheema-Wrestling
Anoop Kumar-Boxing
Robert Bobby George-Athletics
Rajinder Singh Jr.-Hockey

2004

Cyrus Poncha-Squash
Arvind Savur-Billiards & Snooker
Sunita Sharma-Cricket

2005

Ismail Baig-Rowing
Balwan Singh-Kabaddi
Maha Singh Rao-Wrestling
M. Venu-Boxing

2006

Koneru Ashok-Chess
Damodaran Chandralal-Boxing
R. D. Singh-Athletics

2007

Jagdish Singh-Boxing
Sanjeeva Kumar Singh-Archery
Jagminder Singh-Wrestling
G. E. Sridharan-Volleyball

2009

Jaydev Bisht-Boxing
S. Baldev Singh-Hockey
Pullela Gopichand-Badminton
Satpal Singh-Wrestling

2010

Subhash Agarwal-Billiards & Snooker
Captain Chandrup-Wrestling
Ajay Kumar Bansal-Hockey
L Ibomcha Singh-Boxing
A. K. Kutty-Athletics

2011

Devender Kumar Rathore-Gymnastics
Ramphal-Wrestling
Inukurthi Venkateshwara Roy-Boxing

2012

B. I. Fernandez-Boxing
Sunil Dabas-Kabaddi
Harendra Singh-Hockey
Satyapal Singh-Athletics
Virender Poonia-Athletics
Yashvir Singh-Wrestling

2013

Purnima Mahato-Archery
Mahavir Singh-Boxing
Narender Singh Saini-Hockey

2014

Mahabir Prasad-Wrestling
Anoop Singh Dahiya-Wrestling

2015

Sagar Mal Dhayal-Boxing
Naval Singh-Athletics

2016

Bishweshwar Nandi-Gymnastics
Rajkumar Sharma-Cricket
Nagapuri Ramesh-Athletics

2017

Heera Nand Kataria-Kabaddi
R. Gandhi-Athletics

2018

Vijay Sharma-Weightlifting
Subedar Chenanda Achaiah Kuttappa-Boxing
A. Srinivasa Rao-Table Tennis
Sukhdev Singh Pannu-Athletics

2019

U. Vimal Kumar-Badminton
Mohinder Singh Dhillon-Athletics
Sandip Gupta-Table Tennis

2020

Yogesh Malviya-Mallakhamb
Kuldeep Kumar Handoo-Wushu
Jaspal Rana-Shooting
Jude Sebastian-Hockey
Gaurav Khanna-Badminton

Conclusion

Coaches are people who help create winners out of talented athletes. Usually, they get lost in the background unless they are coaches of league teams. The Dronacharya Award celebrates these unsung heroes.