Table Tennis is always considered to be among the most popular and widely played sports in India. The students of almost all the schools, colleges or universities in India, play the game and India has produced a number of top class professional Table Tennis players, so far, as well. Most of these players have become successful to win the prestigious Arjuna Award, given by the Government of India. The Arjuna Awardees in Table Tennis have also brought a lot of glory and happiness to the country.
The Arjuna Award was started to be presented to the talented players in the year 1961 and the first Table Tennis player to receive the award in the same year, was J. C. Vohra. After he entered his name into the list of Arjuna Awardees in Table Tennis, G.R. Deewan won it in the year 1965. He was followed by U. Sundararaj in 1966 and in 1967; the award went to F. R. Khodaiji. The award was bestowed upon Mir Kasim Ali in the year 1969 and in the next two years of 1970 and 1971, G. Jagannath and K. F. Khodaiji won it respectively. The famous Table Tennis player, N. R. Bajaj won the award in the year in 1973.
Then, there was a gap of one year for the Indian Table Tennis players to win the Arjuna Award and Ms. S. Shailja became one of the Arjuna Awardees in Table Tennis, in 1976. No Table Tennis players could win the award for another three years and in 1979-80, Indu Puri received the award. The award went to Manjit Dua in the following year in 1980-81, and he was followed by V. Chandrasekhar, who won it in 1982. After K. N. Mehta won Arjuna Award in 1985, the Indian Table Tennis players started winning the award every second year. M. B. Mehta entered his name into the list of Arjuna Awardees in 1987 and in 1989; Ms. Niyati Shah received the award.
M. S. Walia became one of the Arjuna Awardees in Table Tennis, by winning the award in 1990. Then, there was a long gap of 7 years for the Table Tennis players to win the Arjuna Award and in 1997; Chetan P. Baboor received the award. Subramaniam Raman won the award in the next year in 1998 and famous Indian Women Table Tennis player, Mantu Ghosh became an Arjuna Awardee in 2002. The Indian Table Tennis players like Achanta Sharath Kamal and Soumyadeep Roy won the Arjuna Award in 2004 and 2005, respectively. Subhajit Saha has been the last name in the list of Arjuna Awardees in Table Tennis, so far. Subhajit Saha won the award in the year 2007.
Year | Recipient Name | Year | Recipient Name |
1961 | J.C. Vohra | 1985 | Kamlesh Mehta |
1965 | G. R. Deewan | 1987 | Monalisa Barua |
1966 | U. Sundararaj | 1989 | Niyati Shah |
1967 | F. R. Khodaiji | 1990 | M. S. Walia |
1969 | Mir Kasim Ali | 1997 | Chetan Baboor |
1970 | G. Jagannath | 1998 | Subramaniam Raman |
1971 | K. F. Khodaiji | 2002 | Mantu Ghosh |
1973 | N. R. Bajaj | 2004 | Achanta Sharath Kamal |
1976 | S. Shailja | 2005 | Soumyadeep Roy |
1979-1980 | Indu Puri | 2006 | Subhajit Saha |
1980-1981 | Manjit Dua | 2009 | Poulomi Ghatak |
1982 | V. Chandrasekhar | - | - |