The Times of India Sports Awards (TOISA) is a tribute to Indian sportspersons held every year to honour the past, celebrate the present and nurture the future in Indian sports. TOISA 2019 is its fourth edition held in New Delhi and was attended by some of the biggest names in Indian sports.
The highlight of TOISA 2019 was the badminton World Champion, PV Sindhu, who won gold at the 2019 World Championship held in Switzerland last year. She was not only named the ‘Sportsperson of the Year’ but also bagged the ‘Unbreakable Spirit of Sports’ award.
The shuttler was also the joint winner for the jury’s choice award for, ‘Badminton Player of the Year’ along with Sai Praneeth.
Sai Praneeth created history by becoming a second Indian after Prakash Padukone to win a medal (bronze) at the World Championships, last year.
The Cricketer of the Year award went to Rohit Sharma for his record five centuries and phenomenal performances in the white ball and red-ball cricket.
Women’s Hockey Team Captain, Rani Rampal was named the ‘Hockey Player of the Year.’ In the men’s category, it was the drag-flicker, Harmanpreet Singh, who bagged the award.
Also, the ‘Team of the Year’ was won by the men’s Hockey team, as it achieved its best FIH rank of 4, besides qualifying for the Olympics.
Saurabh Chaudhary and Manu Bhankar won the ‘Shooter of the Year’ award in their respective category.
The National Junior Coach, Jaspal Rana was chosen ‘Coach of the Year’ for producing talents like Chaudhary and Bankar.
Anish Bhanwala (Shooting) and Lalremsiami (Hockey) were selected for the ‘Emerging Players of the year’ award.
In Athletics, Tajinder Pal Singh Toor and Dutee Chand won the ‘Athlete of the Year’ awards in their respective category.
Amit Panghal and Lovlina Borgoahin were the joint winners in the Boxing category, while Saurav Ghosal and Joshna Chinappa were selected as the best squash players.
In Archery, Deepika Kumari and Abhishek Verma were the joint winners, while in Weightlifting, Mirabai Chanu and Sathish Sivangilam were selected at the best athletes in their respective category.
Among the other Jury Choice Awards, were Billiards and Snooker player, Sourav Kothari, Chess star, R Pragnanandha, and Football Icon, Sunil Chettri.
Manasi Joshi and Pramod Bhagat were the Jury’s selection for the para-sports category, for their incredible achievements in 2019.
Some of the other special awards included the prestigious ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ which was conferred to Bhaichung Bhutia, ‘Mentor of the Year’ to Pullella Gopichand and ‘Youth Icon of the Year’ to Vijendra Singh.
The ‘Change Agent of the Year’ award was given to the State of Odisha for its contribution towards sports and Reliance Foundation was named the ‘Corporate Supporter of the Year’.
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