1954-2018: 25% of All Padma Awards in Sports Went to Cricketers

Sachin Tendulkar & Viswanathan Anand won 3 different awards each, most number of awardees came from Maharashtra.

Did you know that Sachin Tendulkar is the only sportsperson in India who was conferred the Bharat Ratna?

From 1954 to 2018, a total of 225 civilian awards (Padma Awards and Bharat Ratna) were given to sportspersons. Cricketers won close to 25 percent of these awards, 55 of them to be precise. Thirty-four awards went to Mountaineers while 25 awards went to Hockey players.

Sachin Tendulkar and Viswanathan Anand won three different awards each, while the most number of awardees (34) came from Maharashtra.

Padma Awards to Sportspersons

A total of 225 Padma Awards (including one Bharat Ratna) were given to Sportspersons between 1954 and 2018. Of them, 192 are Padma Shri, 29 are Padma Bhushan, three are Padma Vibhushan and one Bharat Ratna.

Sachin Tendulkar received the Bharat Ratna, while he, along with Viswanathan Anand and Edmund Hillary received the Padma Vibhushan

Padma awards were given to individuals from 31 different sports. At least two or more awards were given to individuals from 17 different sports, while only one award was given to individuals from 14 different sports.

Cricketers Lead the Pack

Out of 225 awards given to sportspersons, 55 were given to Cricketers, 34 to Mountaineers, 25 to Hockey Players, 23 to Athletes, 11 to Tennis players, 10 to Badminton players, nine to Wrestlers, six each to Chess players, Boxers and Billiards players, and five each to Swimmers, Football players and Shooters.

In all, about 25 percent of all the awards went to Cricketers. Most of the 34 awardees in Mountaineering are from the North East. Cricket, Mountaineering, Hockey and Athletics together accounted for close to 61 percent of the awards to Sportspersons.

Though the Indian Hockey team won a total of eight Olympic gold medals, only 25 Hockey players were given these awards till date.

The Top 4 Sports by Number of Awards Won

Cricketers were given the highest number of awards in all the four categories. Among Cricketers who were given these awards, 42 were given Padma Shri, 11 Padma Bhushan , one Padma Vibhushan and one Bharat Ratna.

Among Mountaineers, 29 were given Padma Shri, four Padma Bhushan and one Padma Vibhushan. Among the Hockey players, 24 were given Padma Shri and one Padma Bhushan to Dhyan Chand. All the 23 awards given to Athletes were Padma Shri.

Who Won the Highest Number of Awards?

A total of 14 individuals won at least two such awards. Sachin Tendulkar and Viswanathan Anand are the only ones to have won three awards each. Six of these 14 people are Cricketers, two are Mountaineers and two are Tennis players.

Most Number of Awardees from Maharashtra

Only nine states have at least 10 awardees from sports. Topping this list is Maharashtra with 34 awardees, followed by Delhi (28), West Bengal (20), Punjab (16), Karnataka (16), Tamil Nadu (15), Haryana (14) and Telangana (13) in that order. Close to half the awardees from Maharashtra are Cricketers.

(The copy has been published in an arrangement with Factly and has been edited for length)