Badminton world championship gold medalist PV Sindhu added another feather to her cap as she scored a hat-trick at the ESPN Sports Awards. Sindhu was chosen as the best Female Sportsperson of the Year for the third consecutive year. At the same time, Sindhu’s victory over Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara in the final of the World Championship 2019 was chosen as the Moment of the Year. The Olympic silver medalist piped Indian women senior hockey team captain Rani Rampal and six-time world championship gold medalist pugilist MC Mary Kom to be crowned Female Sportsperson of the Year.
Young shooter Saurabh Chaudhary, who was adjudged the best emerging athlete last year, received the Male Sportsperson of the Year Award as well as the Team of the Year Award with Manu Bhaker. Saurabh was judged as the Male Sportsperson of the year ahead of Jakarta Asian Games gold medalist and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awardee Bajrang Punia and 2019 AIBA World Boxing Championships silver medalist Amit Panghal. Saurabh won 5 gold medals in the World Cup last year.
Sprinter Dutee Chand became the first athlete to receive ‘The Courage Award’ for being inspirational both on and off the field. Dutee won the fight with the World Athletics Body over gender-related rules and returned to the track. In 2019, she became the first Indian athlete to come out and talk about being in a relationship with a female friend.
Ace chess player Koneru Humpy was conferred with the ‘Comeback of the Year’ award for winning the World Rapid title in December last year to cap a remarkable comeback. The former junior world champion had distanced herself from the game for two-year between 2016 and 2018 to look after her newborn daughter.
Wrestler Deepak Punia overcame shooter Elavenil Valarivan and golfer Deeksha Dagar to receive the Emerging Sportsperson of the year award. He was chosen for the award for his gold medal-winning performance in the World Junior Championship. Deepak also won silver in the world senior championship and earned qualification for the Tokyo Olympics.
Pullela Gopichand, claimed the ‘Coach of the Year’ award as Manasi Joshi, won ‘Differently-abled athlete of the year/Para-athlete of the year’ award. Hockey legend Balbir Singh was conferred with the ESPN’s ‘Lifetime Achievement’ award.
