PV Sindhu adjudged CNN-IBN Indian of the Year 2013 in sports category

PV Sindhu adjudged CNN-IBN Indian of the Year in sports category.

Indian badminton star Pusarla Venkata Sindhu is being drenched in the joy of unremitting accolades. It is all happening at once for the teenage badminton star who has taken centre stage this year with some stellar performances throughout the season. The 18 year old daughter of former Indian national Volleyball players PV Ramana and P Vijaya has been judged the Indian of the Year 2013 in the Sports category. In a glittering awards ceremony presented by CNN-IBN this evening at New Delhi, Sindhu was rewarded for her breaking through the ranks in spectacular style.

The recognition marks the culmination of a fantastic season of badminton for the young player, who became the first Indian to win a medal of the World Championships. Sindhu also won a couple of Grand Prix Gold titles to force her way into the top ten in the world. The student of the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad was also decorated with the Arjuna Award earlier this year.

The awards are in their eighth year – held annually, they recognise the most accomplished Indians across five categories – Sports, Business, Entertainment, Public Service and Politics. Viswanathan Anand won the award in 2012 in the sports category, while Saina Nehwal had taken the coveted award in 2009.

The selection process is normally a four tier system that comprises of the Editorial Board of the IBN network which executes the first step by shortlisting the nominees each year. These nominees are then presented to the Electoral College, consisting of an eminent collection of individuals, and the Citizens for voting.

In the final stage, a select Jury constituted each year by the IBN network considers all of the inputs from the first three tiers to determine the eventual winners. The entire process is independently reviewed and audited by Ernst & Young to ensure integrity and transparency in the selection of winners.

However, the channel skipped the electoral college and public voting this year due to time related pressures surrounding the recently concluded schedule of elections that stretched through much of November and early December. The editorial board consisting of Raghav Bahl, Rajdeep Sardesai, Ashutosh and Nikhil Wagle nominated six contenders in the sports category.

Aditya Mehta, the Maharashtra snooker player made the list for becoming the first Indian to reach the finals of a professional snooker tournament. The 28 year old won the World Games this July by beating Liang Wenbo 3–0 in the final to become the first Indian to win the gold medal. The cueist trounced Pankaj Advani in the quarters before eventually losing to Ding Junhui in the finals.

Amit Kumar was nominated to the awards for clinching the silver medal at the 2013 World Wrestling Championships in Budapest. The 20 year old son of a milkman became the youngest ever wrestler to represent India at the Olympics when he travelled to London last year. Amit reached the final in the 55kg category before losing to the Iranian Hassan Rahimi.

Heena Sindhu earned her nomination by earning a gold medal at the ISSF World Cup Final in Munich. The 24 year old from Punjab became only the third shooter from India to have earned a gold medal at the world cup finals. Anjali Bhagwat in 2003 and Gagan Narang in 2008 are the only other shooters to have achieved the distinction. Heena won the gold medal with Annu Raj Singh in the pairs 10 meter air pistol event.

Ageless wonder, Leander Paes was nominated once again for defying time. The passionate tennis player became the oldest man to win a tennis grand slam when he joined with Radek Stepanek to take the US Open title in September this year. Leander has won eight men’s doubles titles and six mixed doubles titles for a haul of 14 grand slam titles over a career spanning over 22 years with 95 different partners in doubles and 22 in mixed doubles.

Virat Kohli almost picked himself for taking the cricket world by storm with his attacking display of cricket in all three forms of the game. The man who has inherited the number four position from Sachin Tendulkar has been in belligerent form off late – he has already collected 22 international hundreds (5 in Tests and 17 in ODIs including the fastest by an Indian) to make a mark of his own. Kohli was also given the Arjuna Award in August this year.

It is a feather in the cap for Sindhu that she has managed to emerge as the winner from such a star studded selection of nominees, including Kohli who was heavily tipped as a front runner for the recognition. The lanky badminton player is currently in Delhi for the 78th Senior National Badminton Championships.

The icing on the cake though could come in the form of a wealthy contract to sponsor her clothing and equipment. Li Ning is eager to pay a multi-million dollar price to associate with the blossoming badminton star. The Chinese manufacturer is making rapid forays into badminton markets across the world nibbling away at the dominance of Japanese company Yonex. A sizeable deal to sponsor Sindhu could be announced in the next few days.

Meanwhile, Sindhu is busy on court doing what she does best. She played a major role in guiding her Petroleum Sports Promotion Board team to a facile victory in the just concluded team event. With Saina withdrawing from the tournament, Sindhu will be the top seeded star in the individual category which is set to play out through 23rd December.

The eleventh ranked sensation is expected to do one better on last year when she finished runner-up against Sayali Gokhale after losing an intense three game battle. Sindhu is also playing in doubles with Aparna Balan, the pair is seeded third in the doubles draw.