Kamal Ghorui
LUCKNOW: Bringing together India’s finest athletes to celebrate a remarkable year in sports, the Times of India Sports Awards (TOISA) recognised excellence, dedication and the spirit of top achievers by felicitating them in a glittering ceremony here in Lucknow on Saturday.Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath was welcomed by Indian sporting legends Leander Paes, Bhaichung Bhutia, and PT Usha at an awards ceremony which brought the stars together under one roof.
The CM presented the Mentor of the Year award to 1996 Atlanta Olympics tennis bronze medallist Leander Paes even as movie reels of Paes’ early days of action and glory running in the background gave goosebumps to the audience.Emotional chords continued to resonate as the women’s World Cup-winning team, led by women’s cricket team skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, stepped on to the stage to receive the Best Team trophy from the chief minister. Yogi also felicitated the blind cricket team.The UP CM also honoured stalwarts Mithali Raj and PR Sreejesh, along with TOISA jury members.This was followed by the Federation of the Year Award, which was presented to the BCCI and received by Rajeev Shukla.For its continuous promotion to sports, Uttar Pradesh bagged the State of the Year Award, which was received by secretary, sports, Suhas LY.Indian professional shooter Samrat Rana was awarded the Sportsperson of the Year (male), while Para Sportsperson of the Year (male) was awarded to javelin thrower Sumit Antil. Para Sportsperson of the Year (female) went to Sheetal Devi.UP sports minister presented awards for Special Recognition for Athletes from UP to Kuldeep Yadav, Suhas LY, Deepti Sharma and Jagbir Singh.In the ‘Athletes Who Shaped Indian Sports in Last Decade’ category, Paes and Bhutia honoured Manika Batra, Deepa Karmakar, Sumit Antil, PR Sreejesh, Suhas LY, Avani Lekhara, Deepa Malik and Sakshi Malik.Saina Nehwal felicitated men’s badminton mainstay Lakshya Sen.Ceremony hosts Angad Bedi and Neha Dhupia added the fun quotient to the event by calling members of the World Cupwinning women’s team, captain Harmanpreet Kaur, Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma and Harleen Deol on to the stage and engaging them in an impropmtu quiz, at one point even prompting them to shake a leg.TOISA ambassadors Tapsee Pannu and sports minister Girish Chandra Yadav honoured other awardees.The galaxy of sports veterans present during the ceremony included Sandeep Patil, Madan Lal, Jasbir Singh, Virendra Singh, Yogeshwar Dutt and Mirabai Chanu.
