Rani, Humpy in race for BBC honour

Vinesh, Dutee, Bhaker also among nominees for 'BBC Indian Sportswoman of the Year'.

India hockey team skipper Rani Rampal will compete with chess ace Koneru Humpy and young shooter Manu Bhaker for the 'BBC Indian Sportswoman of the Year' award. 

The trio were nominated along with Vinesh Phogat, the only Indian woman wrestler to have qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, and Asian Games 100 metres silver medallist Dutee Chand.

The nominations were made by a 40-member jury panel.

The winner will be decided by public voting, which is open till February 24, and will be announced on March 8, International Women's Day.

Fans can vote for their favourite star on any of the six language platforms of the BBC.

The organisers have introduced a category for 'Emerging Player of the Year', the winner of which will be decided by the jury.

Asked why a cricketer hasn't been nominated for the second straight year, Rupa Jha, BBC Head of Indian Languages, clarified that the nominees were selected by the jury, full of experts and sports writers, and they did not exclude any sport.

Track and field star P T Usha, who received the lifetime achievement award the last year, lauded the BBC for the initiative.

She also tipped India's mixed relay team to do well at the Tokyo Olympics, but was candid in saying that a medal will be difficult to get.

"Getting a medal in athletics at the Olympics is very tough. But, slowly, we have started doing well. In future we will get a medal. Our mixed relay team did well at the World Athletics in 2019 by reaching the final. They finished seventh. There is a good chance of a good performance for it," she said.

"Javelin-thrower Neeraj Chopra is expected to do well. P V Sindhu won a medal last time and she should get gold this year. (Boxer) Mary Kom should also do well," she added.

The BBC also announced that it will host a 'Sports Hackathon' where more than 300 Wikipedia entries of 50 Indian sportswomen will be added. It has tied up with various journalism institutes in various states in the country for the said purpose.