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$18,000).
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 Yadav family of Ghadana Khurd Village in District Jhunjhunu of Rajsthan. by the government of India.
Akhara or Akhada is an Indian word for a place of practice with facilities for boarding, lodging and training, both in the context of Indian martial artists or a sampradaya monastery for religious renunciates in Guru–shishya tradition. For example, in the context of the Dashanami Sampradaya sect, the word denotes both martial arts and religious monastic aspects of the trident-wielding martial regiment of the renunciating sadhus.
Rajiv Tomar is an Indian wrestler. He represented India in the men's freestyle 120 kg category at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, but lost to Steve Mocco of United States in qualifications.
Sushil Kumar is a former Indian wrestler and two-time Olympic medallist. His 2008 Olympic medal was only the second for India in wrestling, and the first since Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav's bronze medal at the 1952 Summer Olympics. In July 2009, he received the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna – India's highest honour for sportspersons. On 3 October 2010, Kumar handed the Queen's Baton to Prince Charles in the Queen's Baton Relay for the 2010 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony. He carried the Indian flag at the opening ceremony of 2012 London Olympics. Sushil won the gold medal in the 74 kg division at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Sushil won the gold medal in the 74 kg division at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. He is the first and only Indian to win a gold medal at World Wrestling Championships.
Guru Hanuman actual name Vijay Pal Yadav was a legendary wrestling coach of India who coached many medal-winning wrestlers. He was awarded the prestigious Dronacharya Award in 1987, the highest recognition for a sports coach in India, and the Padma Shri in 1983.
Chandgi Ram Kaliraman, often referred to as Master Chandgi Ram, was a freestyle wrestler from India. He won gold medal in the 1970 Asian Games and represented India in the 1972 Summer Olympics. Along with amateur wrestling, he was very active in the traditional Indian wrestling, where he had won all major titles, including Hind Kesari, Bharat Kesari, Bharat Bhim, Rustom-e-Hind and Maha Bharat Kesari.
Akhara is an organization of the different sects of sadhu, Vairaghi, yogi or Hindu renunciates.
The Akhil Bharatiya Akhara ParishadABAP, one of the organizations of Hindu sants (saints) and sadhus (ascetics) in India. The ABAP is composed of 14 akharas, or organisations of Hindu sants and sadhus. Nirmohi Akhara and Shri Dattatreya Akhara are two of the prominent akharas which are part of it.
Amit Kumar Dahiya is an Indian wrestler who represented India at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom. He was the youngest wrestler ever to represent India at the Olympics while also being the youngest athlete of the 2012 Indian Olympic delegation.
The Chhatrasal Stadium is a sports stadium in North Delhi. The stadium is famous for its wrestlers, such as Yogeshwar Dutt, Ravi Kumar Dahiya, Sushil Kumar, Bajrang Punia, Amit Kumar Dahiya and Aman Sehrawat who have won medals at Olympics, Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and numerous world championships. The stadium also hosts athletics, basketball, archery, football and kabaddi matches. The stadium is currently used by the I-League 2 club Sudeva Delhi FC.
Sakshi Malik is a former Indian freestyle wrestler. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, she won the bronze medal in the 58 kg category, becoming the first Indian female wrestler to win a medal at the Olympics. In 2017, the Government of India honoured her with the Padma Shri, the country's fourth-highest civilian award and in 2024, she became the first Indian wrestler to feature in Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world. She is a part of the JSW Sports Excellence Program, along with fellow female wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Babita Kumari and Geeta Phogat.
Subhash Verma is a retired Indian wrestler born on 15 July 1968 at village Malakpur, Baghpat, UP. Verma was trained at the Hanuman Akhara of Delhi. He was a very famous pupil of Guru Hanuman. He had won Bharat Kesari title 15 times in his career. Now he runs his own Akhara to train young wrestler for India.
Vinod Kumar Dahiya Olympic Athlete is an Indian-Australian Greco-Roman & freestyle Wrestler a competes in the 66 kg category.
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.
Prem Nath was an Indian freestyle wrestler. He won a gold medal at the 1974 Commonwealth Wrestling Championship in Christchurch. He was a President's Medal-winning retired Delhi Police official and was known for his efforts to popularise wrestling in Delhi.
Ravi Kumar Dahiya, also known as Ravi Kumar or Ravi Dahiya, is an Indian freestyle wrestler who won a silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the 57 kg category. Dahiya is also a bronze medallist from 2019 World Wrestling Championships and a three-time Asian champion. At the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, he won the gold medal in the men's 57kg freestyle wrestling category.
The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) is the premier governing body of wrestling in India. It is headquartered in New Delhi and affiliated to the United World Wrestling (UWW), which makes it the internationally recognized wrestling regulation body of India. Currently headed by Sanjay Singh, the key role of the body is to organize the training and support of wrestlers across India for both domestic as well as international wrestling events. It also regulates wrestling in India as all other state-level wrestling federations across the country fall under its jurisdiction.
