PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth emerge as the sportsperson female and male of the year respectively in the first Multi-Sport Awards by ESPN.in

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Mumbai – April 2, 2018: ESPN, the one-stop destination for a diverse range of sports, today, announced the winners of its first annual Multi-Sport Awards, recognizing achievements across various sport disciplines in 2017. Kidambi Srikanth claimed the title of ‘Sportsperson of the Year – Male’ for his incredible run, bagging four Super Series titles. He became the only Indian and the fourth player ever to achieve it in a calendar year. PV Sindhu clinched the Sportsperson of the Year – Female’ title for her fantastic all-year performance, winning the Indian and Korean Open Super Series titles.Indian National Women’s Hockey Team bagged the ‘Team of the year’ title by underscoring their perseverance towards winning their first Asia Cup in 13 years, winning every match they played and catapulting the team’s ranking to No.10, its best International Hockey Federation ranking.

ESPN.in Multi-Sport awards recognized achievements across 11 categories, of which winners across 10 categories were selected by an independent 14-member jury comprising eminent people in the Indian sports fraternity such as Abhinav Bindra, Somdev Devvarman, Bhaichung Bhutia, Jagbir Singh, Rohit Brijnath, Venkatesan Devarajan, Nisha Millet, Aparna Popat, Jagdish Kaliraman, Manisha Malhotra, Anju Bobby George and ESPN.in’s senior writers Sharda Ugra, Debayan Sen and Jayaditya Gupta. ‘Moment of the Year’ award was decided through public poll and has been awarded to Jeakson Singh’s goal in the U-17 FIFA World Cup 2017.

The full list of award categories and winners of the ESPN.in’s Multi-Sport Awards 2018 are as follow:

 

  1. Sportsperson of the year (Individual) – Male – Kidambi Srikanth

He bagged four Super Series titles and became the only Indian and the fourth player ever to achieve it in a calendar year.

  1. Sportsperson of the year (Individual) – Female – PV Sindhu

She won it for her fantastic all-year performance, winning the Indian and Korean Open Super Series titles.

  1. Team of the year – National Women’s Hockey Team

The team won its first Asia Cup in 13 years, winning every match they played and propelled the team’s rank to No.10, its best International Hockey Federation ranking ever.

  1. Comeback Performance of the year – MC Mary Kom

At the age of 34, kickstarting her career again, MC Mary Kom won an unprecedented 5th gold medal at the Asian women’s boxing championships in Ho Chi Minh City in November 2017.

 

  1. Emerging Athlete of the year (21 or below) – Aditi Ashok

The 19-year old Indian Golfer, Aditi Ashok, made a glorious return to the Ladies European Tour by clinching the Fatima Bin Mubarak Ladies Open, her third LET win in less than 12 months.

 

  1. Coach of the year – Pullela Gopichand

Widely regarded as the Dronacharya of Indian badminton, Pullela Gopichand’s academy in Hyderabad boasts of having trained some of the best players India has produced, including PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Parupalli Kashyap, Sai Praneeth and Kidambi Srikanth himself.

 

  1. Lifetime Achievement Award – Ramanathan Krishnan 

He was among the world’s leading tennis players in the 1950s and 1960s and an inspiration to many. He became the first Indian to win a Grand Slam title at any level, when he won the boys’ singles at Wimbledon in 1954. He would return to Wimbledon and make the semi-finals in 1960 and 1961, and was one of the key players to lead India to the final of the Davis Cup in 1966.

 

  1. Sportsperson of the year (Differently Abled) – Sundar Singh Gurjar

Credited to have opened India’s medal tally at the World Para Athletics Championships with a Gold in the men’s javelin throw event, Sundar Singh Gurjar recorded his personal best effort of 60.36m on the very first night of the tournament.

 

  1. Target Tokyo Award – Neeraj Chopra (Track and field)

The 19-year-old world junior record holder Fast-rising javelin thrower, Neeraj Chopra, recorded incredible feats of 83.32m at the Asian Grand Prix in April, 84.57m at the Paris Diamond League in July, 85.23m at the Asian Championships and his season best of 85.63m at the Fed Cup in Patiala in June, launching Neeraj Chopra into world rank 14.

 

  1. Moment of the Year – Public Voting – Jeakson Singh’s goal at the U-17 FIFA World Cup, 2017

For scoring a memorable goal against Columbia in the World Cup. The goal made Jeakson the only Indian to score in a FIFA event.

  1. Match of the Year – PV Sindhu’s World Championship final against Okuhara

The women’s singles final of the World Badminton Championships between PV Sindhu and Nozomi Okuhara is considered a battle of the titans, that kept everyone at the edge of their seats till the end to know who would finally clinch the title.

The awards recognize the emerging multi-sport landscape in India and the sporting personalities, teams and moments that have risen above the rest and put India on the global stage.