The sports ministry finally published the list of the recipients of the Arjuna award 237 days after the recommendations were sent for the final approval.The committee, led by Justice (Retd) Arun Kumar Mishra, had sent a list of 24 names for the award, even as it failed to arrive at a consensus for the biggest sporting honour — the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna.The selection committee had discussed the names of hockey players Hardik Singh and Vivek Sagar Prasad, hurdler Jyothi Yarraji and archer V Jyoti Surekha but none got the final seal of approval. This would be only the third time in recent history — after 2008 and 2014 — that the committee did not recommend any name for the award.The Arjuna award list, published on Tuesday, has been pruned down to 17. As per the sports scheme, the independent committee recommends names based on performance points and criteria but the sports minister has the discretionary power to add or remove names from the final list.The list includes decathlete Tejaswin Shankar, and chess Grandmasters Divya Deshmukh and Vidit Gujarathi. Deshmukh became the first Indian woman to win the World Cup in 2025. Rifle shooter Akhil Sheoran and badminton players Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand are also part of the list.Surprisingly, Yogasana’s Aarti, who was to become the first award winner from the indigenous sport, has been dropped from the list. Polo athlete Padmanabh Singh, kho kho player Nirmala Bhati, gymnast Pranati Nayak, shooter Mehuli Ghosh, table tennis player Sutirtha Mukherjee and wrestler Sonam Malik also missed out.For the Dronacharya award, athletics coach Parveer Singh, boxing coach Chhote Lal Yadav and shooting coach Neha Nandkumar Chavan have been given the nod. Boxing coach Dharmendra Singh Yadav and wrestling coach Virender Kumar have been awarded the Dronacharya in the lifetime category. Abhilasha (archery), Shiva Megan (basketball) and Avantika Deka (badminton) have been left out.The Army Paralympic Node of Pune has been awarded the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar for sports promotion and development.