Indian Sports Honours: Meet the winners

IMAGE: Vinesh Phogat, right, is presented the Sportswoman of the Year (Individual Sport) Honour by Pullela Gopichand and Anushka Sharma.

Legendary Milkha Singh and star batsmwoman Smriti Mandhana were among the winners during the second edition of the Indian Sports Honours held in Mumbai recently.

The ISH is an initiative by Sanjiv Goenka, Chairman, RP-SG Group and India cricket team captain Virat Kohli.

A total of seventeen honours were presented during the ceremony, comprising eleven Jury Honours, including one Lifetime Achievement Honour, and six popular choice honours, a media release issued on Friday said.

IMAGE: Bajrang Punia, right, addresses the audience after receiving the Sportsman Of The Year Honour (Individual Sport).

Milkha Singh, 92, best known as the 'Flying Sikh' and most remembered for finishing fourth in the 400m final in the 1960 Rome Olympic Games, was bestowed with the lifetime achievement award.

While 23-year-old Mandhana, who was ruled out due to a fracture in her right toe against the ongoing ODI series against South Africa, got the sportswoman of the year award for the team category.

IMAGE: Milkha Singh, centre, is presented the Lifetime Achievement Honour by Sanjeev Churiwala, CFO and Executive Director Diageo India and Bollywood actor Aparshakti Khurana.

Mandhana has so far played 50 ODIs and 62 T20s, scoring 1,951 and 1,344 runs respectively.

Among the other prominent winners were the Indian cricket's men team led by Kohli himself, who bagged the honour of the 'Team of the Year'.

IMAGE: Former India pacer Zaheer Khan, right, collected the men's Breakthrough Performance Of The Year honour on behalf of Jasprit Bumrah from Bollywood actress Neha Sharma, left, and basketball player Satnam Singh.

The nominees for the Honours were shortlisted by over 200 journalists from the Sports Journalist Federation of India (SJFI). The Jury Honours were then decided by the ISH jury, which included among others Sanjiv Goenka, Pulella Gopichand, Mahesh Bhupathi, Sardar Singh, Abhinav Bindra, P T Usha and Anjali Bhagwat.

IMAGE: Smriti Mandhana, right, addresses the audience after receiving the Sportswoman of the Year (Team Sport) Honour from Priyanka Chopra and Sanjiv Goenka

The winners of the Popular Choice Honours were selected by the fans themselves and the winners of each category were decided based on the highest number of votes in each category.

Winners:

Jury Honours:
Differently Abled Sportsman of the Year: Sandeep Chaudhary
Differently Abled Sportswoman of the Year: Rakshita Raju
Emerging Sportsman of the Year: Saurabh Chaudhary
Emerging Sportswoman of the Year: Manu Bhaker
Coach of the Year: Pulella Gopichand
Sportsman of the Year (Individual): Bajrang Punia
Sportswoman of the Year (Individual): Vinesh Phogat
Sportsman of the Year (Team): Sunil Chhetri
Sportswoman of the Year (Team): Smriti Mandhana
Team of the Year: Indian Cricket Team: Men
Lifetime Achievement Honour: Milkha Singh

Popular Choice Honours:
Breakthrough Performance of the Year: Male: Jasprit Bumrah
Breakthrough Performance of the Year:Female: Jemimah Rodrigues
Spirit of Sport Honour: Sunil Chhetri
Comeback of the Year: Dipa Karmakar
Club of the Year: Chennai Super Kings
Fan Club of the Year: Whistle Podu Army (CSK Fan Club)

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