The year 2020 has been great so far for the Indian sportswomen. Just a few days after Indian women’s hockey team captain, Rani Rampal, became world’s first hockey player to win World Athlete of the Year award, six-time world champion women’s boxer MC Mary Kom, the first Indian world champion PV Sindhu, Asian and Commonwealth Games gold-winning wrestler Vinesh Phogat, 2018 Asian games silver medalist sprinter Dutee Chand and para-badminton champion.
The award will be presented on 8 March where the winner will be decided via online voting on the BBC’s six Indian language websites. These elections will be held till February 18.
Mansi Joshi won the gold medal at the Para-Badminton World Championships and Mary Kom, fondly called as magnificent Mary, is the only Indian to win eight medals with six gold at the World Championships. Dutee had won two silver medals at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games. She clinched silver medals in the 100 meters and 200 meters.
The BBC Indian Sports Woman of the Year award has been instituted for the first time and the award will be presented to the winning player at a grand ceremony on 8 March. Rupa Jha said that the names of these five nominees have been selected by a 40-member jury of sports journalists, experts, and sportswriters from their volition. The winner will be decided by public speaking and the public voting has started from Monday which will be open till 11 pm on 17 February.