India hockey legend PR Sreejesh honored with Padma Bhushan 

Legendary hockey player PR Sreejesh is set to be honored with the prestigious Padma Bhushan, which is India’s third-highest civilian award. On Saturday, January 25, Sreejesh featured in the list of sportspersons for the honor announced by the Government of India. Draupadi Murmu, the honorable President of India, approved 139 names for the Padma Awards 2025.

Last year, Sreejesh bid goodbye to international hockey after the Paris Olympics where India won the bronze medal. He bagged back-to-back Olympic medals after winning bronze in Tokyo back in 2021. After he quit playing, Hockey India retired his No.16 jersey as a tribute to the former goalkeeper.

After his playing career, Sreejesh started to embark on a new journey, becoming the head coach of the Indian junior teams.

Apart from his heroics in the Olympics, Sreejesh also won two gold medals in the 2014 and 2022 Asian Games and won the award for the FIH Goalkeeper of the Year award three times in 2020, 2022, and 2024.

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Who won the Padma Awards?

While Sreejesh won the Padma Bhushan, Harvinder Singh, IM Vijayan, Satyapal Singh, and Ravichandran Ashwin were conferred with the Padma Shri, the country’s fourth-highest civilian award.

Harvinder is a double Paralympic medalist, having first won a bronze medal in men’s singles recurve archery in Tokyo 2020 followed by gold in the same event in Paris in 2024.

IM Vijayan is a legendary footballer, who played 72 international matches for India and scored 29 goals. He was also the captain of the national team from 2000 to 2004. Satyapal is a para coach, who helped Praveen Kumar win two Paralympic medals.

R Ashwin, on the other hand, is a former Indian men’s all-rounder. Ashwin recently retired from international cricket after India lost the Boxing Day Test against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.