Badminton sensation Kidambi Srikanth received the Sportsperson of the Year award at 2018 Mahindra Scorpio TOISA in Mumbai. The event was organized to honor the best sports performances in the year 2017 that saw a myriad of players from various sports. Apart from Srikanth, players like PV Sindhu, Jasprit Bumrah, Harmanpreet, Ankur Mittal, Savia Punia, and others were awarded at the event.
Talking about Kidambi Srikanth, the badminton star’s record-setting year earned him not just the Sportsperson of the Year Award but also the Jury’s Choice Badminton Player of the Year (Male). Another gem in the same sports named PV Sindhu, who currently stands at 4th rank in the world, was recognized as the Badminton Player of the Year (female) for winning 2 Superseries titles and silver medals at BWF World Super Series Title and Badminton World Championships.
Courtesy: Times Of India
Moving on to cricket, Jasprit Bumrah won the Cricketer of the Year Award for soaring to the no.1 position in the T20Is and third in ODIs. For the women’s team, all-rounder Harmanpreet bagged the TOISA in the same category for her contribution in leading the team to the Women’s World Cup Finals.
Further, while men’s cricket team won the popular choice Team of the Year award, women’s team was honored with the Inspiration of the Year award. Prithvi Shaw emerged as the Emerging player (popular choice).
Talking about hockey, the best player titles were given to Harmanpreet Singh and Savita Punia in the male and female category, respectively. While Singh was the leading scorer of the team in 2017, Punia was named Goalkeeper of the Tournament during the Women’s Asia Cup.
Moving on the mentors, Anil Kumble bagged the Coach of the Year title while Pullela Gopichand won the Mentor of the Year title. Another important award was the lifetime achievement title that went to the tennis icon Vijay Amritraj.
Other notable winners at the event were:
• Emerging Player of the Year (Jury’s Choice): Anish Bhanwala
• Para-athlete of the Year: Varun Bhati
• Archer of the year: Abhishek Verma
• Athlete of the year: G Lakshmanan
• Basketball Player of the Year: Amjyot Singh Gill
• Billiards/Snooker Player of the Year: Pankaj Advani
• Boxer of the Year: Gaurav Bidhuri
• Chess Player of the Year: Harika Dronavalli
• Football Player of the Year: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu
• Kabaddi Player of the Year: Pardeep Narwal
• Shooter of the Year: Ankur Mittal (male) and Heena Sidhu (female)
• Squash Player of the Year: Saurav Ghosal
• Table tennis Player of the Year: Sathiyan Gnansekaran
• Tennis Player of the Year: Rohan Bopanna
• Weightlifter Player of the Year: Saikhom Mirabai Chanu
