Raipur, Aug 20: The Department of Sports and Youth Welfare released the interim selection list for the Chhattisgarh State Sports Awards 2025–26 on Thursday, featuring shortlisted athletes, coaches, and teams across various disciplines. The state administration has invited online claims and objections against the interim selections until August 23, 2026.

The state’s annual sports honours framework includes the Shaheed Rajiv Pandey Award for senior athletes, Shaheed Kaushal Yadav Award for junior athletes, Veer Hanuman Singh Award for coaches and adjudicators, Shaheed Pankaj Vikram Samman, Shaheed Vinod Choubey Samman, and the Chief Minister’s Trophy for team achievements.

In the Olympic sports category of the Shaheed Rajiv Pandey Award, Bilaspur’s Vikas Kumar topped the list in archery with 47 points. Balod’s Kiran Pisda was selected in football with 37 points, while Durg’s Deepanshi Netam secured seven points in fencing. Sujay Tamboli and Ayush Makhija, both from Raipur, were jointly selected in badminton with six points each.

Among non-Olympic sports, Korba’s Sanju Devi secured 277 points in kabaddi. Reema Rai of Sarangarh-Bilaigarh in soft tennis and Misha Kumari of Durg in netball were jointly selected with seven points each. In para-sports, Mahasamund’s Lucky Yadav secured 93 points in para-athletics.

For the Shaheed Kaushal Yadav Award, Raigarh’s Divyanshu Dewangan led the Olympic sports category in shooting with 17 points, followed by Bilaspur’s Vikram Raj in archery with 15 points. Raipur’s Divyansh Agarwal secured six points in badminton, while Surajpur’s Sonika Rajwade received four points in athletics.

In the non-Olympic category, Swapnil Pradhan of Raigarh and Bhumika Chaudhary of Narayanpur were jointly selected in wushu with 15 points each. Dhamtari’s Pooja secured four points in netball, while Nikhil Kumar Yadav of Balodabazar was selected in para-athletics with 31 points.

Raipur’s Ajay Deep Sarang has been selected for the Veer Hanuman Singh Award in the coach category for weightlifting, securing 124 points. No candidate was found eligible in the adjudicator/referee category.

A total of 17 players have been found eligible for the Shaheed Pankaj Vikram Samman. The list includes Sanskar Diwan and Vidya Singh in wushu; Ankush Singh and Jhamita Sahu in kho-kho; Hemshikhar in volleyball; Arndim Devnath in table tennis; Shivanshu Kesharwani and Aditi Kumari in tennikoit; Ajinkya Singh in swimming; Sneha Nyogi and Anmol Singh in judo; Semeshwar Singh in para-swimming; Yash Karketta in boxing; Shrikant Pandey in para-judo; Tukesh Sahu in gymnastics; Stuti Sophia Masih in rollball; and Khushal Yadav in hockey.

For the Shaheed Vinod Choubey Samman, Durg’s Gangeshwar secured 14 points in athletics, while Durg’s Khwaja Ahmed received 12 points in volleyball. Raipur’s Avan Kumar Jain secured seven points in weightlifting, while Md Akram Khan in volleyball and Pradeep Joshi in table tennis received six points each.

Two teams have also been selected for the Chief Minister’s Trophy. The senior women’s archery team comprises Chandni Sahu, Sulochana Raj, Payal Maravi, and Maya, with Itwari Raj as coach. The junior girls’ soft tennis team comprises Purnima Phanikar, Chanchal Sarthi, Yamini Nishad, Riya Sonkar, Muskan Nishad, Alfi Joseph, Prerna Phanikar, and Ranjana Chauhan, with Dilip Kumar Vishwakarma as coach and Reema Roy as manager.

Athletes and eligible participants can submit claims or objections online through the official Sports and Youth Welfare Department portal (sportsyw.cg.gov.in) by office hours on August 23, 2026. The sports department confirmed that submissions received after the deadline will not be considered, and the final list will be published following official scrutiny.