The Padma Awards for 2026 were revealed on Sunday, and among the notable athletes honored were tennis icon Vijay Amritraj, World Cup-winning captains Rohit Sharma, and Harmanpreet Kaur.
This year, Amritraj was the sole athlete to be awarded the Padma Bhushan. It honors his groundbreaking work in bringing Indian tennis to the attention of the world during the amateur and early Open Era and is India’s third-highest civilian award.
Amritraj, a former Davis Cup mainstay, had previously won the Arjuna Award in 1974 and the Padma Shri in 1983. After making it to the quarterfinals of both the US Open and Wimbledon singles tournaments, he went on to represent Indian sports in a number of administrative and ambassadorial capacities.
Several athletes were named for the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian award, including former captain Rohit and captain Harmanpreet, who won the 2025 ODI World Cup.
Rohit’s acknowledgement comes after a pivotal period of leadership in Indian men’s cricket. India won the Champions Trophy in 2025 and the T20 World Cup in 2024 under his leadership as captain. Rohit retired from the shortest format after winning the T20 World Cup. He then quit Test cricket in 2025, however he still plays in ODIs.
Following a historic year in Indian women’s cricket, Harmanpreet received the Padma Shri. She guided India to their maiden ICC Women’s World Cup victory in 2025, defeating South Africa in the final at Navi Mumbai. With the victory, she became the first Indian captain to win the Women’s World Cup and, after MS Dhoni, only the second Indian captain to win a World Cup at home.
Other athletes who have received the Padma Shri include experienced coach Baldev Singh, Indian women’s hockey goalkeeper Savita Punia, and Paralympic high jump champion Praveen Kumar.
In the men’s T64 high jump category, which includes athletes with limb deficiencies or major leg length discrepancies, Praveen, 22, won the gold medal at the Paris Paralympics with a personal best jump of 2.08 meters. Praveen, who was born with a short leg, became one of India’s top para-athletes after winning a silver medal at the Tokyo Paralympics and placing first on the podium at the 2022 Asian Para Games.
Savita, on the other hand, is considered one of the best goalkeepers of her generation and has been a fixture of the Indian women’s hockey team for over ten years. The 35-year-old made her senior international debut at the age of 20 and was crucial to India’s unprecedented fourth-place Olympic result in Tokyo.
Her experience also came in handy when India participated in the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2018 Women’s Hockey World Cup, where they advanced to the quarterfinals.
Savita took over as captain after the Tokyo Games and guided India to victory in the FIH Nations Cup and a bronze medal in the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Additionally, India won consecutive Women’s Asian Champions Trophies in 2023 and 2024 under her captaincy.
Coach Baldev Singh’s revolutionary contribution to Indian women’s hockey has been acknowledged. He founded one of the most successful women’s hockey nurseries in the nation and is widely recognized for having strengthened the grassroots. He has also coached and led over fifty international players.
Vladimer Mestvirishvili, a former wrestling coach, received the Padma Shri posthumously. Mestvirishvili, a former Georgian international who arrived in the nation in 2003, spent over 20 years molding a generation of champions.
After relocating to Haryana and New Delhi, Mestvirishvili—who had coached the Georgian national team from 1982 to 1992—became a central figure in India’s ascent to prominence in the world of wrestling. Within the wrestling community, he was affectionately known as Laado and was instrumental in the early growth of numerous of India’s most renowned wrestlers.
Olympic medallists Sushil Kumar, Yogeshwar Dutt, and Bajrang Punia were among his trainees; they all went on to represent India’s consistent success on the international front. Ravi Dahiya, a silver medallist from the Tokyo Olympics, and Deepak Punia, a medallist from the World Championships, both had training from Mestvirishvili in their early years.
The Center announced 131 Padma Awards for 2026, including 113 Padma Shri, 13 Padma Bhushan, and five Padma Vibhushan in a variety of categories, such as public service, sports, the arts, and literature.
