Weightlifting is such a game in India that has been producing quite a good number of internationally tasted players who did bring a lot of prizes along with great honours to the country. So it is quite easily understandable that such a sport will definitely have a good number of representatives in the winners` list of the "Arjuna Award" and it has indeed. From 1961 that is the very first year of the institution of the "Arjuna Award", the weightlifters seems to have very much successful in winning the award on quite a regular basis. The first weightlifter to win the award in the history was A.N. Ghosh who won it in 1961. He was followed by two of his friends from the field of weightlifting, L.K. Dass and K.E. Rao who won the award in the years of 1962 and 1963 respectively. After them, B.S. Bhatia became successful to win the award in 1965 and Mohan Lal Ghosh won it in 1966.
After S. John Gabriel won the award in the year of 1967, there was a little gap of 3 years in the winners` list of the award for the weightlifters. However, in 1970, Arun Kumar Dass won the award and started to enter the names of the weightlifters in the winners` list. S.L. Salwan won it in the year of 1971 and Anil Kumar Mandal succeeded in 1972. After the year of 1973 remained winner less, S. Vellaiswamy became the winner in 1974. The weightlifters visited the winners` list quite regularly after that year till 1979. During this time, Dalbir Singh won it in 1975; K. Balamuruganandam in 1976; M.T. Selvan in 1977-78 and E. Karaunakaran was the winner in 1978-79. The weightlifters also did visit the winners` list from the year of 1981 to 1983 when B.K. Satpathy, Tara Singh and Vispy K. Daroga won the award respectively.
Then again from the year of 1985 to 1987, three weightlifters won the "Arjuna Award". They were M.C. Bhaskar in 1985; Jag Mohan Sapra in 1986 and G. Devan in the year of 1987. In 1989, the award was won by a female weightlifter named as Jyotsna Dutta and in 1990, two weightlifters like R. Chandra and Ms. N. Kunjarani became the joint winner. Another female weightlifter Chhaya Adak followed them in the year of 1991 and Bharati Singh and K. Malleswari won the award in the years of 1993 and 1994 respectively. There were two winners again in 1997 in the names of Paramjit Sharma and N. Laxmi and in 1998, Satish Rai became the winner. The weightlifters like Dalbir Singh, Sanamacha Chanu Thingbaijan and Thandava Murthy Muthu were the winners of the "Arjuna Award" in the years of 1999, 2000 and 2002 respectively. Amongst them, Thandava Murthy Muthu is the last weightlifter so far to win the "Arjuna Award".Geeta rani won the Arjuna Award for 2007 in weightlifting.
The game of Weightlifting is amongst the successful games in the history of Indian sports and from the discussion above, it is quite evident for the fact that this particular game definitely posses the ability to produce more and more successful weightlifters in the future who can win the "Arjuna Award" very easily.
Year | Recipient Name | Year | Recipient Name |
1961 | A.N. Ghosh | 1983 | Vispy K. Daroga |
1962 | L.K. Dass | 1985 | Mehar Chand Bhaskar |
1963 | K.E. Rao | 1986 | Jag Mohan Sapra |
1965 | B.S. Bhatia | 1987 | G. Devan |
1966 | Mohan Lal Ghosh | 1989 | Jyotsna Dutta |
1967 | S. John Gabriel | 1990 | R. Chandra, N. Kunjarani |
1970 | Arun Kumar Dass | 1991 | Chhaya Adak |
1971 | S.L. Salwan | 1993 | Bharati Singh |
1972 | Anil Kumar Mandal | 1994 | K. Malleswari |
1974 | S. Vellaiswamy | 1997 | Paramjit Sharma, N. Laxmi |
1975 | Dalbir Singh | 1998 | Satheesha Rai |
1976 | K. Balamuruganandam | 1999 | Dalbir Singh |
1977-78 | M.T. Selvan | 2000 | Sanamacha Chanu Thingbaijan |
1978-79 | E. Karaunakaran | 2002 | Thandava Murthy Muthu |
1981 | B.K. Satpathy | 2006 | Geeta Rani |
1982 | Tara Singh | - | - |