India’s highest sporting honour, awarded annually Government of India. Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, formerly known as the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in Sports and Game, started in 1991 with Viswanathan Anand becoming first one to be awarded.
With time, limit on number of awardees in a year changed which was used to be given to just one sportperson in starting. This year in 2021, highest number 12 sportsperson being awarded, on the back of huge success in Olympics and Paralympics games.
List of awardees:
| S. No. | Year | Recipient(s) | Discipline(s) | Major Achievement (s) |
| 1 | 1991–1992 | Viswanathan Anand | Chess | Grandmaster, multiple times World Champion |
| 2 | 1992–1993 | Geet Sethi | Billiards | Winner of Billiards World Championships |
| 3 | 1993–1994 | Homi Motivala | Yachting (Team event) | World Champion in team event in Yachting |
| 4 | 1993–1994 | Pushpendra Kumar Garg | Yachting (Team event) | World Champion in team event in Yachting |
| 5 | 1994–1995 | Karnam Malleswari | Weightlifting | World Champion, later went on to win Bronze at Olympics (first ever medal by Indian Women) |
| 6 | 1995–1996 | Nameirakpam Kunjarani | Weightlifting | World Champion |
| 7 | 1996–1997 | Leander Paes | Tennis | Bronze Medal winner in 1996 Olympics, went on to win multiple Grand Slams in Doubles and Mixed |
| 8 | 1997–1998 | Sachin Tendulkar | Cricket | Master Blaster, went on to break all Runs record in Cricket |
| 9 | 1998–1999 | Jyotirmoyee Sikdar | Athletics | Middle distance runner winning 2 Gold at 1998 Asiad |
| 10 | 1999–2000 | Dhanraj Pillay | Hockey | Famous Forward Hockey player, leading Indian Men’s Hockey team to many victories |
| 11 | 2000–2001 | Pullela Gopichand | Badminton | Only 2nd Indian player to win All England Championship |
| 12 | 2001 | Abhinav Bindra | Shooting | Rifle Shooter, went on to win Gold Medal at 2008 Olympics |
| 13 | 2002 | K. M. Beenamol | Athletics | Medal winning runner in 2002 Asiad |
| 14 | 2002 | Anjali Bhagwat | Shooting | Rifle Shooter, World no. 1 in 10m Air Rifle Shooting in 2002 |
| 15 | 2003 | Anju Bobby George | Athletics | Bronze Medal winner in World Championship in Long Jump |
| 16 | 2004 | Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore | Shooting | Double Trap shooter, Silver medal at 2004 Olympics |
| 17 | 2005 | Pankaj Advani | Billiards and Snooker | Multiple times Billiards and Snooker World Championship winer |
| 18 | 2006 | Manavjit Singh Sandhu | Shooting | Trap Shooter, Former no. 1 and World Championship winner |
| 19 | 2007 | Mahendra Singh Dhoni | Cricket | T-20 World Cup win in 2007 |
| 20 | 2009 | Mary Kom | Boxing | Most decorated female boxer, World Boxing Championships winner |
| 21 | 2009 | Vijender Singh | Boxing | Bronze medal at 2008 Olympics |
| 22 | 2009 | Sushil Kumar | Freestyle wrestling | Bronze medal at 2008 Olympics, add Silver in 2012 Olympics |
| 23 | 2010 | Saina Nehwal | Badminton | Went on to win Bronze at 2012 Olympics |
| 24 | 2011 | Gagan Narang | Shooting | Rifle Shooter, went on to win Bronze at 2012 Olympics |
| 25 | 2012 | Vijay Kumar | Shooting | Pistol Shooter, won Silver at 2012 Olympics |
| 26 | 2012 | Yogeshwar Dutt | Freestyle wrestling | Won Bronze at 2012 Olympics |
| 27 | 2013 | Ronjan Sodhi | Shooting | Double Trap shooter, won medal ay international events |
| 28 | 2015 | Sania Mirza | Tennis | Multiple time Grand Slam Champion and Asiad medalist |
| 29 | 2016 | P. V. Sindhu | Badminton | Bronze medal in 2016 Olympics, went on to win Silver in 2020 Olympics |
| 30 | 2016 | Dipa Karmakar | Gymnastics | Finished 4th in Vault event in 2016 Olympics |
| 31 | 2016 | Jitu Rai | Shooting | Pistol Shooter, Silver medalist in World Championship |
| 32 | 2016 | Sakshi Malik | Freestyle wrestling | Bronze medal in 2016 Olympics |
| 33 | 2017 | Devendra Jhajharia | Paralympic javelin | Multiple Paralympics medal winner |
| 34 | 2017 | Sardara Singh | Hockey | Half back, leaded India to many victories. Captained India at 22 years of age |
| 35 | 2018 | Saikhom Mirabai Chanu | Weightlifting | Went on to win Silver at 2020 Olympics |
| 36 | 2018 | Virat Kohli | Cricket | Leading Batter in World Cricket |
| 37 | 2019 | Deepa Malik | Paralympic (shot put, javelin, others) | Silver Medalist at 2016 Paralympics |
| 38 | 2019 | Bajrang Punia | Freestyle wrestling | Went on to win Bronze at 2020 Olympics |
| 39 | 2020 | Rohit Sharma | Cricket | Leading Batter in World Cricket |
| 40 | 2020 | Mariyappan Thangavelu | Paralympic high jump | Gold at 2016 Olympics, added Silver at 2020 Olympics |
| 41 | 2020 | Manika Batra | Table tennis | Multiple medal winners at international events’ |
| 42 | 2020 | Vinesh Phogat | Freestyle wrestling | Bronze medal winner at World Championship |
| 43 | 2020 | Rani Rampal | Hockey | Indian Women,s Hocket team captaion, went on to lead India to 4th finish in 2020 Olympics |
| 44 | 2021 | Neeraj Chopra | Athletics | Gold at 2020 Olympics in Javelin |
| 45 | 2021 | Ravi Kumar Dahiya | Freestyle wrestling | Silver at 2020 Olympics |
| 46 | 2021 | Lovlina Borgohain | Boxing | Bronze at 2020 Olympics |
| 47 | 2021 | P. R. Sreejesh | Hockey | Goalkeeper for Bronze medal winning team at 2020 Olympics |
| 48 | 2021 | Avani Lekhara | Paralympic shooting | Rifle Shooter, Gold and Bronze medal winner at 2020 Paralympics |
| 49 | 2021 | Sumit Antil | Para-athletics | Javelin thrower, Gold medal at 2020 Paralympics |
| 50 | 2021 | Pramod Bhagat | Para-badminton | Gold medal at 2020 Paralympics |
| 51 | 2021 | Krishna Nagar | Para-badminton | Gold medal at 2020 Paralympics |
| 52 | 2021 | Manish Narwal | Paralympic shooting | Pistol Shooter, Gold medal at 2020 Paralympics |
| 53 | 2021 | Mithali Raj | Cricket | Decorated Women batter, captained India for long time |
| 54 | 2021 | Sunil Chhetri | Football | Highest international goals scorer for India. Under top-5 in World |
| 55 | 2021 | Manpreet Singh | Hockey | Midfielder, Captain of Bronze medal winning team at 2020 Olympics |