Bringing together India’s finest athletes to celebrate a remarkable year in sports, the Times of India Sports Awards (TOISA) recognised the excellence, dedication, and sporting spirit of top achievers at a glittering ceremony held at The Centrum in Lucknow on Saturday.The award ceremony brought together the country’s finest athletes under one roof. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was welcomed by legends Leander Paes, PT Usha, Mitahli Raj, PR Sreejesh and Devendra Jhajharia.The chief minister presented the Mentor of the Year award to India’s first individual Olympic medallist, Leander Paes. Visuals from Paes’ glorious career playing in the background gave goosebumps to the audience. Emotions continued to run high as the women’s World Cup-winning team, led by Indian women’s cricket team skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, stepped onto the stage to receive the Best Team trophy from the Chief Minister.Yogi Adityanath then awarded the Team of the Year honour to the Indian women’s blind cricket team.The Chief Minister also honoured stalwarts Mithali Raj, the cricketing legend who holds the record for most international runs, and PR Sreejesh, the legendary goalkeeper and Olympic medallist, along with TOISA jury members.This was followed by the Federation of the Year award, presented to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and received by its vice-president, Rajeev Shukla.For its continuous promotion of sports, Uttar Pradesh bagged the State of the Year award, which was received by the state’s sports minister Girish Chandra Yadav and secretary (sports), Suhas LY.Special recognition in the cricket category went to Kuldeep Yadav and Harmanpreet Kaur in the men’s and women’s categories. The awards were handed over by Principal Secretary (CM) Sanjay Prasad and Rajeev Shukla. The Cricket Players of the Year (male and female) were Shubman Gill and Deepti Sharma, respectively.In the category ‘Athletes Who Shaped Indian Sports in the Last Decade’, Leander Paes and Baichung Bhutia honoured PV Sindhu, Deepa Karmakar, Sumit Antil, PR Sreejesh, Suhas LY, Avani Lekhara, Saina Nehwal, Deepa Malik, Rani Rampal, Sharath Kamal, Ravi Dahiya, and Sakshi Malik.In a segment celebrating the pride of Uttar Pradesh, sports minister Girish Chandra Yadav felicitated Jagbir Singh (hockey), Kuldeep Yadav (cricket), Somjeet Singh (wheelchair cricket), Lalit Upadhyay, Deepti Sharma (cricket), Suhas LY (para badminton), Rupal Chaudhary (athletics), Rajkumar Pal (hockey), and Praveen Kumar (para athletics).Harmanpreet Kaur then honoured Taapsee Pannu for becoming TOISA Ambassador of the Year.In the badminton category, Lakshya Sen and Treesa Jolly received the Player of the Year awards in the men’s and women’s categories from Mithali Raj. Special recognition in badminton went to Mathias Boe, coach of the Indian doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty. In the para category, Sandeep Patil and Sumit Antil presented awards to Shailesh Kumar (track and field) and Simran Sharma (track and field) in the male and female categories, respectively.Sportsperson of the Year (male) went to Indian professional shooter Samrat Rana, while Para Sportsperson of the Year (male) was awarded to javelin thrower Sumit Antil. Para Sportsperson of the Year (female) went to Sheetal Devi. The awards were presented by TOISA ambassador Taapsee Pannu.The segment honouring para athletes struck a chord with the audience, as the entire venue cheered the achievements of the champions who continue to overcome odds to bring laurels to the nation. The award to para chess player Vaibhav Gautam made everyone in the hall stand up to applaud the champion on wheels.Anchors Angad Bedi and Neha Dhupia added a fun quotient to the event by inviting cricket stars Harmanpreet Kaur, Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, and Harleen Deol onto the stage, engaging them in a quiz, light banter, and even prompting them to shake a leg.The galaxy of sports veterans present at the ceremony included Sandeep Patil, Madan Lal, Virendra Singh, Yogeshwar Dutt, and Mirabai Chanu.
