Padma Awards 2026: the sportspersons honoured this year
From Rohit Sharma and Vijay Amritraj to Savita Punia and para athlete Praveen Kumar, the Padma Awards 2026 recognise a broad spectrum of Indian sporting achievement.
The Padma Awards 2026 honoured a group of sportspersons drawn from cricket, tennis, hockey and para sport, reflecting the widening map of Indian athletic achievement. Recognised across the Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri tiers, the list brings together a celebrated international cricketer, a tennis great and athletes who have excelled in disciplines that receive far less attention.
Sport remains one of the most public categories on the Padma list, and this year's selection spans the very famous and the quietly accomplished.
The athletes on this year's list
Rohit Sharma, one of India's most prominent cricketers, was honoured in the Padma Shri category. The tennis great Vijay Amritraj, who carried Indian tennis onto the world stage in an earlier era, received the higher Padma Bhushan. Savita Punia, the accomplished goalkeeper from the India women's hockey team, was recognised for her contribution to the sport, and the cricketer Harmanpreet Kaur from Punjab was also among the honourees.
The list further includes the para athlete Praveen Kumar of Uttar Pradesh, alongside Baldev Singh, Bhagwandas Raikwar, K Pajanivel, and Vladimer Mestvirishvili of Georgia, recognised posthumously, whose inclusion reflects the role of coaches and contributors from beyond India's borders.
Why para sport features so prominently now
For readers who have followed Indian sport over recent years, the growing presence of para athletes on honours lists is one of the most notable shifts. India's para athletes have delivered some of the country's strongest results on the international stage, and recognition has begun to follow.
Including para sport on the Padma list does more than reward individual athletes. It helps raise the profile of disability sport as a whole, encouraging investment and drawing new participants. The presence of a para athlete among this year's honourees is part of that wider change.
From the stadium to the para arena, the 2026 sporting honourees reflect a country whose definition of sporting excellence keeps broadening. For young athletes, the message is that recognition is no longer confined to a handful of marquee disciplines.