Neeraj Chopra and Mirabai Chanu were among the notable winners of the 2022 Sportstar Aces Awards given away here on Saturday at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel.
Chopra, the reigning Olympic javelin champion, won the ‘Sportstar of the Year (Male)’ award. Weightlifter Chanu, who claimed the silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics, received the ‘Sportstar of the Year (Female)’ award.
Other winners
R Ashwin (Sportsman of the Year, Cricket), Mithali Raj (Sportswoman of the Year, Cricket), Rupinder Pal Singh and Harmanpreet Singh (Sportsmen of the Year, Team Sports), and Savita Punia (Sportswoman of the Year, Team Sports) were some of the other big winners.
The Indian women’s hockey team, which fought hard but narrowly missed a bronze at Tokyo, received a huge applause for winning the ‘Breakthrough Performance of the Year’ award.
“We have received a lot of respect and good wishes after our performance in the Olympics. We would like to thank Hockey India, Sports Authority of India (SAI), the Odisha government, media and our fans for all the support,” Indian women’s hockey team member Punia said.
Celebrated jury panel
The jury panel was led by legendary India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar. Former India hockey captain MM Somaya, chess stalwart Viswanathan Anand, former India football captain Bhaichung Bhutia, and Olympians Anjali Bhagwat and Aparna Popat were the other members of the jury.
Tennis star Leandar Paes, Olympic gold medallist shooter Abhinav Bindra, former international hockey player and Haryana Sports Minister Sandeep Singh, and former India cricketers Syed Kirmani, Mohammad Azharuddin, Diana Edulji and Dilip Vengsarkar were some of the dignitaries present on the occasion.
“It is wonderful to see our champions here tonight. Their efforts have brought great joy to the nation when everything seemed lost due to the pandemic. We are all proud of you,” said Ayon Sengupta, Editor, Sportstar.
“Sportstar has retained rigorous focus on hardcore reporting of sporting events as they unfold — as accurately and descriptively as possible. We will ensure that as we transition to a digital era, we will not lose the rigour and quality of our reporting and analysis,” Malini Parthasarathy, Chairperson, The Hindu Group, said.
The awards were presented by BYJU’s Classes, with IDFC First Bank as the Associate Partner.