New Delhi, India, February 4, 2020: Star wrestler Vinesh Phogat, badminton queen PV Sindhu and boxing great Mary Kom will compete for the inaugural BBC Indian Sportswoman of the Year award after being nominated for the honour with two other athletes.
Sprinter Dutee Chand and para-badminton player Manasi Joshi are the other nominees for the award, the winner of which will be announced on March 8. The winner will be decided on the basis of public voting which will open on February 18 on six BBC vernacular websites.
Vinesh won a bronze at the 2019 World Championships in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, to secure a quota for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics while Sindhu became the first Indian shuttler to become world champion last year.
Manasi became a world champion after winning gold at the para world championship while Mary Kom is the only Indian boxer to win eight world medals, including six gold. Dutee had won a 100m silver at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games.
Rupa Jha, the Head of BBC Indian languages, revealed the nominees were picked by a panel of 40 eminent sports journalists. “We had asked our panel members to pick their candidates. The five athletes who got the maximum number of votes were eventually selected as the nominees,” Jha said.
BBC’s launch of this award is with the aim of honouring the immense contributions of India sportswomen and to celebrate the achievements of women in sport in the country.
Had it not been for Indian sportswomen, the nation would have returned empty-handed from the Rio 2016 Olympics – for the first time since the 1992 Olympics. Sindhu and wrestler Sakshi Malik won medals.
Out of the total 57 medals won by India at the 2018 Asian Games, almost half (28) went to women athletes.