From 1954 to 2017, a total of 218 civilian awards (Padma Awards and Bharat Ratna) were given to individuals who excelled in the field of sports. Cricketers won 54 of these awards which is 25 per cent of all the awards.
The only Bharat Ratna to a sportsperson was conferred on Sachin Tendulkar. Thirty four awards went to mountaineers while 24 awards went to Hockey players. Sachin Tendulkar and Vishwanathan Anand won three different awards each while Maharashtra has the highest number of awardees at 33.
Padma Awards in Sports
Padma Awards have been given to individuals who excelled in the field of sports since their inception in 1954. Of 218 Padma awards (including one Bharat Ratna) given to sportspersons, 187 are Padma Shri, 27 are Padma Bhushan, 3 are Padma Vibhushan and one is Bharat Ratna. Sachin Tendulkar received the Bharat Ratna, while he along with Vishwanathan Anand and Edmund Hillary received the Padma Vibhushan.
Padma awards have been given to sportspersons from 31 different sports. At least two or more awards have been won by sportspersons from 17 different sports while only one award was won by sportspersons from 14 different sports.
Cricketers Lead the Pack
Out of 218 awards given to sportspersons, 54 were given to cricketers, 34 to mountaineers, 25 to hockey players, 23 to athletes, 10 to tennis players, 9 each to badminton players and wrestlers, 6 each to chess players and boxers and 5 each to swimmers, billiards players, football players and shooters.
In all, 25 percent of all the awards went to cricketers. Most of the 34 awardees in mountaineering are from the Northeast. Cricket, mountaineering, hockey and athletics together accounted for close to 63 percent of all the awards. Though the Indian hockey team won a total of eight Olympic gold medals, only 25 hockey players have been given these awards.
The Top Four Sports
Cricketers have been given the highest number of awards in all the four categories. Among cricketers who were given these awards, 42 were given Padma Shri, 10 Padma Bhushan, one Padma Vibhushan and one Bharat Ratna.
Among mountaineers, 29 were given Padma Shri, four were given Padma Bhushans and one was given Padma Vibhushan. Among the Hockey players, 24 were given Padma Shri and one Padma Bhushan to Dhyan Chand. And all the 23 awards given to athletes were Padma Shri.
Who Won the Highest Number of Awards?
A total of 12 individuals won the award more than once. Sachin Tendulkar won three different times while Vishwanathan Anand also won it three times. Five of these 12 are from cricket, 2 each from mountaineering and tennis, one each from chess, badminton and boxing.
States With Highest Number of Awardees
Only nine states have at least 10 awardees. Topping this list is Maharashtra with 33 awardees followed by Delhi (28), West Bengal (20), Punjab (16), Karnataka (15) ,Tamil Nadu (14) and Haryana (14) in that order.
Interestingly, half of the awardees from Maharashtra are cricketers.
Source: Ministry of Home Affairs
(This article was originally published in Factly)
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