Lalremsiami Hmar Becomes First Sportsperson From Mizoram To Receive Arjuna Award

Indian women's hockey player and Olympian Lalremsiami Hmar Zote on Friday became the first sportsperson from Mizoram to receive the prestigious Arjuna Award. President Droupadi Murmu formally presented the honour to her at a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on November 13, 2026. The 26-year-old was among 17 sportspersons selected for the Arjuna Award 2025 by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports on August 18, 2026.

Career and background

Lalremsiami, who hailed from Kolasib in the northern part of Mizoram bordering Assam, took up hockey at a young age. Her talent was spotted by teachers Lallawmawmi, Lalrampari and Lalrothuami, who encouraged her to pursue the sport.

She joined the state-run hockey academy at Thenzawl in 2011 at the age of 11, before moving to the National Hockey Academy in New Delhi in 2016.

Lalremsiami made her national debut at the Junior Nehru Hockey Tournament in October 2011 and was later selected for India's Under-18 team for the Asian Cup in 2016.

She earned her first senior national team call-up in 2017 and was part of India's Asia Cup-winning side that year.

Major achievements

In 2020, Lalremsiami became the first Indian woman hockey player to win the International Hockey Federation's Women's Rising Star of the Year award.

Her list of achievements has since grown to include a bronze at the 2022 Asian Games and Asian Champions Trophy titles in 2023 and 2024.

She featured in several major international tournaments, including the Tokyo Olympics 2020, where India finished fourth, making her the first woman from Mizoram to compete at the Olympics.

Her commitment to the national team drew widespread admiration in 2019 when she chose to remain with the squad for the FIH Women's Series in Japan despite the death of her father, Lalthansanga Zote. India won the tournament and secured qualification for the Tokyo Olympics.

Award ceremony details

The ceremony lasted a little over 36 minutes and was attended by Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Mansukh Mandaviya and Sports secretary Hari Ranjan Rao. ) Arun Kumar Mishra, former Supreme Court judge, chaired the selection committee responsible for reviewing the recommendations.

The ministry selected 17 Arjuna Award recipients from an initial list of 24 recommendations following a Ministry-initiated re-evaluation process to ensure only worthy names were honoured to preserve the integrity of the awards. The awards were announced following a massive delay after this re-evaluation process.

Broader context

With no Khel Ratna picked this year, decathlete Tejaswin Shankar, along with Grandmasters Divya Deshmukh and Vidit Gujrathi, were among the star Arjuna winners in attendance. The last time that the country did not have a Khel Ratna was in 2014.

World Cup-winning chess player Divya Deshmukh, Tejaswin and women's doubles badminton players Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly were among the 17 sportspersons named for the Arjuna Award.

Among the winners in attendance at the ceremony were Deshmukh, Gujrathi, Glasgow Commonwealth Games silver-medallist boxer Narender Berwal (+92kg), and young deaf rifle shooter Dhanush Srikanth. The 20-year-old Deshmukh is the first Indian woman to win the World Cup.

Gujrathi was part of the gold-winning Indian team at the 2024 Chess Olympiad. Tejaswin won a historic decathlon silver medal at the Asian Games in 2023.

Key details of the Arjuna Award ceremony

Sources

• NDTV Sports

• thehindu.com