The ministry has also announced the list of sportspersons for another covetted award, the Arjuna Award, which includes emerging badminton teenager Saina Nehwal and cricketer Gautam Gambhir apart from Mangal Singh (archery), Sinimole Paulose (athletics) L Sarita Devi (boxing), Tania Sachdev (chess), Ignace Tirkey (hockey), Surinder Kaur (hockey), Pankaj Navanath Shirsat (kabbadi), Satish Joshi (rowing), Ronjan Sodhi (shooting), Poulami Ghatak (table tennis), Yogeshwar Dutt (erestling), Girdhari Lal Yadav (yatching) and Parul Parmar (badminton disabled).

Former international badminton player, P Gopichand who hogged the limelight after winning the prestigious All England Badminton Championship and three others, have been chosen for the Dronacharya Award. The other three are Jaydev Singh Bisht (boxing), S Baldev Singh (hockey) and former international player Satpal (wrestling). For the Dhyan Chand Award, the government has selected two sports persons who were a force to reckon with during their playing days - Ishar S Deol for athletics and Satbir Singh Dahiya for wrestling. The prestigious sports awards of the country will be awarded on August 29, at a function in the national capital which will see the presence of India's President Pratibha Devi Singh Patil.