TOISA to honour the best in Indian sport

Lucknow: The biggest names in Indian sport will once again gather under one roof as the much-anticipated Times of India Sports Awards (TOISA) returns to Lucknow for the third consecutive time on Saturday, celebrating the inspiring journeys and achievements of the country’s finest athletes across multiple disciplines.Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will grace the occasion as a guest and hand over the trophies honouring achievers and emerging stars who made the nation proud over the past year. The event will be attended by sporting legends like PT Usha, Leander Paes, Mithali Raj, Madan Lal, Sandeep Patil and Sardar Singh, and other top athletes, coaches, administrators and guests from across the country, making it one of the most prestigious sporting evenings of the year.This edition of TOISA will recognise athletes across more than 45 categories, honouring performances during the Jan 1 to Dec 31, 2025 evaluation period. The wide range of categories ensures that excellence across mainstream as well as emerging sports disciplines is duly acknowledged.Having begun in 2015, TOISA completes a decade, and a special section will honour the best players of the past 10 years. Besides, there will be a special segment on the best player of the year from UP.For the last decade, para players have shown their mettle on fields and courts, bringing several laurels to the nation. To felicitate their talent, TOISA has 13 categories dedicated to para sports.A distinguished jury comprising eminent Indian sporting personalities — Abhinav Bindra, the country’s first individual Olympic gold medallist; tennis legend and Olympic medallist Leander Paes; PR Sreejesh, a two-time Olympic medallist; Devendra Jhajharia, a two-time Paralympic gold medallist; Mithali Raj, one of the greatest names in women’s cricket with over 10,000 international runs; and Sharath Kamal, India’s most decorated table tennis player with 13 Commonwealth Games medals — will select the winners.The jury faces a tough task in choosing from a star-studded list of nominees, as the past year witnessed several landmark achievements. Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra continued his remarkable run on the global stage with outstanding performances in the Diamond League, while shooter Samrat Rana clinched three medals, including two golds, at the World Shooting Championships held in Cairo, Egypt.Lakshya Sen has been one of India’s top performers in badminton for quite some time now. He recently contested the final of the All England Championships. The young shuttler is cruising towards etching his name among the game’s elite.Indian cricket also enjoyed a historic year. The India women’s national cricket team lifted their maiden ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup title on home soil, while the India men’s team captured both the ICC Champions Trophy and the Asia Cup.Smriti Mandhana’s World Cup-winning feat and her own performance were exceptional this year. She played a pivotal role in India’s historic win, scoring 434 runs overall, the maximum by any player. The Indian vice-captain scored a blistering 109-run innings against New Zealand and an 80-run innings against Australia, along with a crucial 45 runs in the final against South Africa.Another peach of a performance came from Deepti Sharma. This Agra girl’s all-round performance bagged her the Player of the Tournament award as well.In another remarkable feat, the India women’s blind cricket team became the first-ever champions of the Women’s Blind Cricket T20 World Cup.Beyond cricket, the India men’s hockey team triumphed at the Asia Cup, securing qualification for the 2026 FIH World Cup. Indian para-athletes also shone brightly at the World Para Athletics Championships, returning with a rich haul.Promising athletes like Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in cricket, Divya Deshmukh in chess, and Tanvi Sharma in badminton emerged as stars of the future.Through these honours, TOISA continues its mission of celebrating India’s sporting heroes, whose grit, dedication and excellence inspire India.Here are the nominees shortlisted for various categories by the illustrious TOISA jury, which includes icons like Abhinav Bindra, Mithali Raj and Leander Paes...BADMINTON (MALE)Lakshya Sen, Ayush Shetty, Kiran George, Chirag Shetty, Satwiksairaj RankireddyBADMINTON (FEMALE)Tanvi Sharma, Unnati Hooda, Tressa Jolly, Gayatri GopichandCRICKET (MALE)Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, KL Rahul, Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep YadavCRICKET (FEMALE)Smriti Mandhana, Pratika Rawal, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Shafali VermaATHLETICS (MALE)Neeraj Chopra, Animesh Kujur, Gulveer Singh, Sachin YadavATHLETICS (FEMALE)Parul Chaudhary, Rupal Chaudhary, Jyothi Yarraji, Pooja SinghEQUESTRIANAshish Limaye, Shruti Vora, Divyakriti SinghHOCKEY (MALE)Abhishek Nain, Harmanpreet Singh, Jugraj Singh, Amit RohidasHOCKEY (FEMALE)Udita Duhan, Navneet Kaur, Mumtaz Khan, Rutuja PisalSHOOTING (MALE)Samrat Rana, Ravinder Singh, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Anish, Varun Tomar, Rudrankksh PatilSHOOTING (FEMALE)Suruchi Inder Singh, Simranpreet Kaur, Esha Singh, Elavenil Valarivan, Sift Kaur Samra, Manu BhakerCHESS (MALE)R Praggnanandhaa, Aravindh Chithambaram, P Iniyan, Nihal Sarin, Arjun ErigaisiCHESS (FEMALE)Divya Deshmukh, Koneru Humpy, R Vaishali, Nandhidhaa PVARCHERY (MALE)Dhiraj Bommadevara, Abhishek Verma, Atanu Das, Prathamesh Fuge, Rishabh YadavARCHERY (FEMALE)Ankita Bhakat, Jyothi Surekha, Deepika Kumari, Prithika PradeepBILLIARDS/SNOOKERPankaj Advani, Aditya Mehta, Brijesh DamaniWEIGHTLIFTING (MALE)Rishikanta Singh, Muthupandi Raja, Dilbag Singh, Lovepreet SinghWEIGHTLIFTING (FEMALE)Mirabai Chanu, Mehak Sharma, Bindyarani DeviWRESTLING (MALE)Sunil Kumar, Nitesh, Aman Sehrawat, Sujeet KalkalWRESTLING (FEMALE)Antim Panghal, Manisha, Nisha DahiyaSQUASH (MALE)Abhay Singh, Saurav Ghosal, Velavan Senthilkumar, Mahesh MangaonkarSQUASH (FEMALE)Anahat Singh, Joshna Chinappa, Dipika Pallikal Karthik, Tanvi KhannaTABLE TENNIS (MALE)Manav Thakkar, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, Harmeet Desai, Payas JainTABLE TENNIS (FEMALE)Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula, Diya Chitale, Ayhika MukherjeeTENNIS (MALE)Rohan Bopanna, Yuki Bhambri, Sumit NagalTENNIS (FEMALE)Ankita Raina, Vaishnavi Adkar, Sahaja YamalapalliFOOTBALL (MALE)Subhasish Bose, Sunil Chhetri, Vishal Kaith, Brison Fernandes, Gurpreet Singh SandhuFOOTBALL (FEMALE)Soumya Guguloth, Grace Dangmei, Elangbam Panthoi Chanu, Manisha Kalyan, Pyari XaxaKABADDISanju Devi, Pawan Sehrawat, Ritu Negi, Arjun DeshwalBOXING (MALE)Sachin Siwach, Hitesh Gulia, Pawan Bartwal, Ankush PanghalBOXING (FEMALE)Minakshi Hooda, Jaismine Lamboria, Nikhat Zareen, Pooja RaniSAILINGVishnu Saravanan, Zahaan Hemrajani, Abhimanyu Panwar, Ghashiayah ACOACH OF THE YEARAmol Majumdar (Cricket), Suresh Singh (Shooting), Ashok Kumar Rana (Shooting)PARA ARCHERY (MALE)Harvinder Singh, Vivek Chikara, Rakesh Kumar, Shyam Sunder SwamiPARA ARCHERY (FEMALE)Sheetal Devi, Payal Nag, Jyoti BaliyanPARA ATHLETICS (MALE)Sumit Antil, Shailesh Kumar, Sandeep Kumar, Nishad KumarPARA ATHLETICS (FEMALE)Simran Sharma, Preethi Pal, Ekta Bhyan, Deepthi JeevanjiPARA BADMINTON (MALE)Pramod Bhagat, Sukant Kadam, Krishna NagarPARA BADMINTON (FEMALE)Mandeep Kaur, Manasi Joshi, Nithya SrePARA CHESSVaibhav Gautam, Samarth J Rao, Venkata Krishna Karthik KPARA JUDOKapil Parmar, Avidha Sharma, Rahul Rajora, KokilaPARA SHOOTING (MALE)Bhat Amir Ahmad, Nihal Singh, Sandeep Kumar, Rudransh KhandelwalPARA SHOOTING (FEMALE)Mona Agarwal, Avani Lekhara, Rubi KumariEMERGING SPORTSPERSONTanvi Sharma (Badminton), Divya Deshmukh (Chess), Shree Charani (Cricket), Vaibhav Suryavanshi (Cricket)PARA SPORTSPERSON OF THE YEARSheetal Devi (Para Archery), Praveen Kumar (Para Athletics – High Jump), Preethi Pal (Para Athletics – Sprint), Sumit Antil (Para Athletics – Javelin)PARA COACH OF THE YEARDr. Satyapal Singh (Para Athletics), Subhash Rana (Para Shooting), Gaurav Khanna (Para Badminton), Sandhya Bharti (Para Taekwondo)TEAM OF THE YEARIndia Women’s Cricket Team, India Men’s Cricket Team, India Men’s Hockey Team, India Men’s & Women’s Kabaddi Teams, India National Shooting Team, India Women’s Cricket Team for the Blind, India Squash Team, India Women’s Ice Hockey Team