TOISA honors the best athletes in Indian sports

LUCKNOW: The much-awaited Times of India Sports Awards (TOISA) returns to Lucknow for the third consecutive time on Saturday, where the biggest names in Indian sports will once again come together to celebrate the inspiring journeys and achievements of India’s best athletes across disciplines. chief minister of uttar pradesh Yogi Adityanath The event will be graced as guests and trophies will be presented to recognize the achievers and rising stars who have made the country proud in the past year. Sports legends like PT Usha, Leander Paes, Mithali Raj, Madan Lal, Sandeep Patil and Sardar Singh along with other top athletes, coaches, administrators and guests from across the country will be present at the event, making it one of the most prestigious sports evenings of the year. This edition of TOISA will honor athletes in more than 45 categories, recognizing performance during the evaluation period from January 1 to December 31, 2025. The wide range of categories ensures excellence in mainstream and emerging sporting disciplines receives due recognition. Since its launch in 2015, TOISA has gone through ten years and has set up a special section to recognize the best players of the past 10 years. Additionally, there will be a special segment on the UP Player of the Year. Over the past decade, para-athletes have shown their mettle on the field and court, bringing a number of honors to the country. To recognize their talents, TOISA has created 13 categories specifically for disabled sports. An illustrious jury comprised of India’s eminent sports personalities – Abhinav Bindra, India’s first individual Olympic gold medalist; Tennis legend and Olympic medalist Leander Paes; PR Sreejesh, a two-time Olympic medalist; Devendra Jhajharia, a two-time Paralympic gold medalist; Mithali Raj, one of the greatest names in women’s cricket with over 10,000 international matches to his name; Awarded 13 Sharath Kamal, India’s most decorated table tennis player with 12 Commonwealth Games medals, will select the winner. The jury was faced with the daunting task of selecting from a star-studded list of nominees, as the past year saw several milestone achievements. Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra continues to make a mark on the global stage with a stellar performance in the Diamond League, while shooter Samrat Rana bagged three medals, including two golds, at the World Shooting Championships in Cairo, Egypt. Lakshya Sen has been one of the best performers in Indian badminton for a long time. He recently competed in the final of the All England Championships. The young badminton player is working hard to etch his name among the elite of the sport. Indian cricket has also had a historic year. The Indian women’s national cricket team won the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup on home soil for the first time, while the Indian men’s cricket team won the ICC Champions Trophy and the Asia Cup. Smriti Mandhana’s feat of winning the World Cup this year and her own performance have been outstanding. She played a key role in India’s historic victory, scoring a total of 434 runs, the highest by any player. The India vice-captain scored a stunning innings of 109 against New Zealand, 80 against Australia and a crucial 45 in the final against South Africa. Another great performance comes from Deepti Sharma. The Agra girl’s all-round performance also earned her the Player of the Tournament award. The Indian Women’s Blind Cricket Team has achieved another extraordinary achievement by becoming the first-ever champions of the Women’s Blind Cricket T20 World Cup. Apart from cricket, the Indian men’s hockey team also won the Asia Cup and qualified for the 2026 International Hockey Federation World Cup. Indian para-athletes also shined at the World Para Athletics Championships and gained a lot. Promising athletes like cricketer Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, chess player Divya Deshmukh and badminton player Tanvi Sharma emerged as future stars. Through these honours, TOISA continues its mission of celebrating Indian sports heroes whose courage, dedication and excellence inspire the country.

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Here are the nominees across categories selected by the renowned TOISA jury, which includes icons like Abhinav Bindra, Mithali Raj and Leander Paes… Badminton (men) Lakshya Sen, Ayush Shetty, Kiran George, Chirag Shetty, Satwisraj Rankireddy Badminton (women) Tanvi Sharma, Unati Hooda, Teresa Jolly, Gayatri Gopichand Cricket (men) Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, KL Rahul, Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav Cricket (female) Smriti Mandana, Pratika Rawal, Jemima Rodriguez, Deepti Sharma, Shafali Verma Track and Field (Male) Neeraj Chopra, Animesh Kujur, Gulveer Singh, Sachin Yadav Track and Field (Female) Parul Chaudhry, Rupal Chaudhry, Jyoti Yaraj, Pooja Singh equestrian Ashish Limaye, Shruti Vohra, Divyakriti Singh Hockey (men) Abhishek Nain, Harmanpreet Singh, Jugraj Singh, Amit Rohidas Hockey (women) Udita Doohan, Navneet Kaur, Mumtaz Khan, Rutuja Pisar Shooting (male) Samrat Rana, Ravinder Singh, Aishwari Pratap Singh Tomar, Anish, Varun Tomar, Rudlankesh Patil Shooting (female) Suruchi Inder Singh, Simranpreet Kaur, Esha Singh, Eravinil Valarivan, Shift Kaur Samra, Manu Bakker Chess (men) R Praggnanandhaa, Aravindh Chithambaram, P Iniyan, Nihal Sarin, Arjun Erigaisi Chess (female) Divya Deshmukh,Koneru Humpy,R Vaishali,Nandhidhaa PV Archery (men) Dhiraj Bommadevara,Abhishek Verma,Atanu Das,Prathamesh Fuge,Rishabh Yadav Archery (female) Ankita Bhakat, Jyoti Surekar, Deepika Kumari, Prithika Pradeep Billiards/Snooker Pankaj Advani, Aditya Mehta, Brijesh Damani Weightlifting (men) Rishkantha Singh, Muthupandi Raja, Dilbag Singh, Lovepreet Singh Weightlifting (female) Mirabai Chanu, Mehak Sharma, Bindyalani Devi Wrestling (men) Sunil Kumar, Nitesh, Aman Serawat, Sujit Karkar Wrestling (female) Antim Panghal, Manisha, Nisha Dahiya Squash (men) Abhay Singh, Saurav Ghosal, Velavan Senthilkumar, Mahesh Mangaonkar Squash (female) Anahat Singh, Joshna Chinappa, Deepika Parrikar Karthik, Tanvi Khanna Table tennis (men) Manav Thakkar, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, Harmeet Desai, Payas Jain Table Tennis (Female) Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula, Diya Chitale, Ayhika Mukherjee Tennis (men) Rohan Bopanna, Yoki Bumbry, Sumit Nagar Tennis (women) Ankita Raina, Vaishnavi Adkar, Sahaja Yamalapalli Football (men) Subhash Bose, Sunil Chhetri, Vishal Kess, Brisan Fernandez, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu Football (women) Soumya Guguloth, Grace Dangmei, Elangbam Panthoi Chanu, Manisha Kalyan, Pyari Xaxa kabaddi Sanju Devi, Pawan Sehrawat, Ritu Negi, Arjun Deswal Boxing (men) Sachin Shivaji, Hitesh Gulia, Pawan Bhatwal, Ankush Panhal Boxing (female) Meenakshi Hooda, Jaismine Lamboria, Nikhat Zareen, Pooja Rani sailboat Vishnu Saravanan, Zahaan Hemrajani, Abhimanyu Panwar, Ghashiayah A Coach of the Year Amol Majumdar (cricket), Suresh Singh (shooting), Ashok Kumar Rana (shooting) Disabled Archery (Male) Harvinder Singh, Vivek Chitkara, Rakesh Kumar, Shyam Sunder Swamy Archery for people with disabilities (female) Sheetal Devi, Payal Nag, Jyoti Balyan Disabled Track and Field (Male) Sumit Andil, Shailesh Kumar, Sandeep Kumar, Nishad Kumar Disabled Track and Field (Female) Simran Sharma, Preethi Pal, Ekta Bhayan, Deepthi Jeevanji Badminton (men) Pramod Bhagat, Sukant Kadam, Krishna Nagar Disabled badminton (female) Mandeep Kaur, Manasi Joshi, Nithya Sre Can chess Vaibhav Gautam,Samarth J Rao,Venkata Krishna Karthik K For judo Kapil Parmar, Avida Sharma, Rahul Rajora, Kokila For shooting (men) Bhatt Aamir Ahmed, Nihal Singh, Sandeep Kumar, Rudransh Khandelwal Disabled shooting (female) Mona Agarwal, Avani Lekara, Ruby Kumari emerging athletes Tanvi Sharma (Badminton), Divya Deshmukh (Chess), Shree Charani (Cricket), Vaibhav Suryavanshi (Cricket) Para-Athlete of the Year Sheetal Devi (Archery for the disabled), Praveen Kumar (Athletics for the disabled – high jump), Preethi Pal (Athletics for the disabled – sprint), Sumit Antil (Athletics for the disabled – javelin) Disability Coach of the Year Dr. Satyapal Singh (Para Athletics), Subhash Rana (Para Shooting), Gaurav Khanna (Para Badminton), Sandhya Bharti (Para Taekwondo) Team of the Year Indian Women’s Cricket Team, Indian Men’s Cricket Team, Indian Men’s Hockey Team, Indian Men’s and Women’s Kabaddi Team, Indian National Shooting Team, Indian Women’s Blind Cricket Team, Indian Squash Team, Indian Women’s Hockey Team