The Dronacharya Award, officially known as Dronacharya Award for Outstanding Coaches in Sports and Games, is sports coaching honour of the Republic of India. The award is named after Drona, often referred as "Dronacharya" or "Guru Drona", a character from the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata of ancient India. He was master of advanced military warfare and was appointed as the royal preceptor to the Kaurava and the Pandava princes for their training in military arts and astras. It is awarded annually by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. Recipients are selected by a committee constituted by the Ministry and are honoured to have done "outstanding and meritorious work on a consistent basis and enabled sportspersons to excel in international events" over a period of four years. Two awards are designated for the lifetime contribution in coaching where the achievements in producing "outstanding sportspersons" over a period of 20 years or more are considered. As of 2020, the award comprises a bronze statuette of Dronacharya, a certificate, ceremonial dress, and a cash prize of ₹15 lakh (US$19,000).
Honorary Captain Vijay Kumar Sharma, AVSM, SM is an Indian sport shooter. He won the silver medal in the individual 25 metre rapid fire pistol event at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Kumar hails from Barsar village of Hamirpur district of Himachal Pradesh and is a retired Subedar Major in the Dogra Regiment Indian Army, who was later promoted to Honorary Captain Rank. Vijay Kumar is supported by the Olympic Gold Quest initiative. He is the only Indian to have won a medal at 25m rapid Fire Pistol. He has been posted at Indian Army Marksmanship Unit (AMU) Mhow since 2003 where he is being coached by the Russian Pavel Smirnov.
Devendra Jhajharia is an Indian Paralympic javelin thrower competing in F46 events. He is the first Indian Paralympics player to win two gold medals at the Paralympics. He won his first gold in the javelin throw at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, becoming the second gold medalist at the Paralympics for his country. At the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, he won a second gold medal in the same event, bettering his previous record. Devendra is currently being supported by the Olympic Gold Quest. He becomes India's most decorated Paralympic player by winning his third medal, a silver at the 2020 Summer Paralympics at Tokyo.
Maha Singh Rao is a wrestler and wrestling coach from Chirawa, Rajasthan in India. In 2006, he was awarded the Dronacharya Award, the highest award of the land in the field of coaching of sports and athletics, He born in Rao family of Ghadana Khurd Village in District Jhunjhunu of Rajsthan. by the government of India.
Bula Choudhury is an Indian former swimmer. She is an Arjuna awardee, Padma shri awardee, former India national women's swimming champion and elected as MLA from 2006 to 2011 representing Nandanpur in West Bengal state of India.
Sandeep Sejwal is an Indian swimmer who has participated in Olympics 2008. He contested in the men's 100 m and 200 m breaststroke events at the 2010 Asian Juniors in Beijing, but did not reach the finals in both events. He won the bronze medal in 2014 Asian Games in 50 m breaststroke.
Honorary Captain Hawa Singh was an Indian Heavyweight boxer, who dominated Indian and Asian amateur boxing for a decade in his weight class. He won the Asian Games gold medal in Heavyweight category in consecutive editions of the games in the 1966 Asiad and the 1970 Asiad both held in Bangkok, Thailand - a feat unmatched by any Indian boxer to date. He won the National Championships in the Heavyweight category a record 11 consecutive times — from 1961 to 1972.
Satpal Singh, also known as Guru Satpal, is a wrestling coach and former wrestler of India. He was a Gold Medalist in 1982 Asian Games and a Bronze medalist in 1974 Asian Games. Today he is better known as the coach of Olympic medal winners Sushil Kumar and Ravi Kumar Dahiya.
Bahadur Singh Chouhan is a former Indian shot putter. Between 1973 and 1985 he won three gold, two silver and three bronze medals at the Asian Games and Championships. He placed 15th at the 1980 Summer Olympics, and was honoured with Arjuna award and Padma Shri. He is a recipient of Dronacharya Award, by the government of India. Presently he is working as the head coach of the Indian athletics team.
Sudha Singh is an Indian Olympic athlete in the 3000 metres steeplechase event. A national record holder in the event, she has represented India at international events since 2005. Singh is an Asian Champion in the discipline and has won two gold and four silver medals at varying editions of the Asian Games and the continental championships.
Ripudaman Singh Aulakh, known as R.D. Singh, is an Indian athletics coach from Hanumangarh, Rajasthan. He is a recipient of Dronacharya Award, by the government of India. He is India's first Dronacharya awardee coach in the category of sports for specially abled.
Prasana Karmakar is an Indian Para swimmer. He won 2 Bronze medals in 2014 Incheon Asian Games. He is also known for representing India as the swimming team coach for 2016 RIO Paralympic games.
In India, the sport of athletics was introduced during the period of the British Raj. The sport is governed at national level by the Athletics Federation of India, which was formed in 1946. Despite its large population, few Indian athletes have won a medal in a global or major championship. This began to change in the 21st century, when Indians started taking greater interest in athletics more generally and improved facilities for the sport began to be built at a local level. At a continental level, it has been among the more successful Asian nations, though some distance behind China and Japan.
Amit Kumar Saroha is a Paralympian, Asian Para Games medalist and an Arjuna Awardee, competing in the F51 category in Discus throw and Club throw. He is one of India's top Para athletes and the first quadriplegic to represent India at a Paralympic Games. He trains at the Sports Authority of India in Sonipat and is being supported by the GoSports Foundation
Deepa Malik is an Indian athlete. She started her career at the age of 30. She is the first Indian woman to win a medal in Paralympic Games and won a silver medal at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in shot put. She also won gold in the F-53/54 Javelin event at the para athletic Grand Prix held in Dubai in 2018. She is currently the world number one in the F-53 category. She has won accolades for her participation in various adventure sports. She is associated with Himalayan Motorsports Association (H.M.A.) and Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (F.M.S.C.I.). She has undertaken an 8-day, 1,700-km drive in sub-zero temperatures which included a climb to 18,000 feet (5,500 m). It was – Raid De Himalaya. This journey covers many difficult paths including remote Himalayas, Leh, Shimla and Jammu.
Suma Shirur is a former Indian shooter who competed in the 10 metre air rifle event. She is a joint world record holder in the event, having scored the maximum of 400 points in the qualification round, which she achieved at the 2004 Asian Shooting Championships in Kuala Lumpur. In 2003, she was awarded the Arjuna Award by the government of India. She is currently the High Performance Coach of the Indian Jr. Rifle Shooting Team. She is also the coach of 2020 Paralympics women's SH1 10m rifle gold and women's SH1 50m 3-position rifle bronze medalist Avani Lekhara On 30 November of 2022, she was conferred the Dronacharya Award by the 15th President of India, Droupadi Murmu.
Virender SinghYadav is an Indian freestyle wrestler. Competing in the 74 kg weight division, he has won 3 Deaflympics Gold Medals and a bronze medal in 4 appearances. He won gold medals at 2005 Summer Deaflympics, 2013 Summer Deaflympics and 2017 Summer Deaflympics. In addition to that, he also won a bronze at 2009 Summer Deaflympics.
Gaurav Khanna is the Indian para-badminton Team Head National Coach. A former national badminton player and the current coach of the Indian Para-badminton team who brings the para-sport scene, passion and dedication to India, and is behind the rise of champion para-athletes. who has dedicated his life to train the physically and intellectually challenged athletes to achieve their dreams on the badminton courts, and what was ultimately achieved is what many believed was impossible.
India 
