LUCKNOW: The Tech Word News Sports Awards (TOISA) brought together India’s best athletes to celebrate a remarkable year in sports and recognized the excellence, dedication and spirit of top players by felicitating them at a glittering ceremony here in Lucknow on Saturday.Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was welcomed by Indian sports legends Leander Paes, Bhaichung Bhutia and PT Usha at the awards ceremony which brought together the stars under one roof.
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Shashi Tharoor & Samson’s Redemption Story: From Failure to FameCM presented the Mentor of the Year award to 1996 Atlanta Olympic bronze medalist Leander Paes, although the film reels of Paes’ early days of action and fame running in the background gave me goosebumps.Emotional chords continued to resonate as the World Cup winning women’s team, led by women’s cricket team captain Harmanpreet Kaur, took the stage to receive the trophy for the best team from the hands of the Chief Minister. Yogi also praised the blind cricket team.The UP CM also felicitated stalwarts Mithali Raj and PR Sreejesh along with TOISA jury members.This was followed by the Federation of the Year award presented by the BCCI which was received by Rajeev Shukla.For continuous promotion of sports, Uttar Pradesh won the State of the Year award, which was presented to Sports Secretary Suhas LY.Indian professional shooter Samrat Rana was awarded the Sportsperson of the Year (Male) while the Para Sportsperson of the Year (Male) was awarded to javelin thrower Sumit Antil. Para Sportswoman of the Year (Female) went to Sheetal Devi.UP Sports Minister presented Special Recognition Awards to UP sportspersons Kuldeep Yadav, Suhas LY, Deepti Sharma and Jagbir Singh.In the category “Sportsmen who shaped Indian sports in the last decade”, Paes and Bhutia honored Manika Batra, Deepa Karmakar, Sumit Antil, PR Sreejesh, Suhas LY, Avani Lekhara, Deepa Malik and Sakshi Malik.Saina Nehwal congratulated men’s badminton mainstay Lakshya Sen.Hosts of the ceremony Angad Bedi and Neha Dhupia added to the fun quotient of the event by inviting members of the World Cup winning women’s team captain Harmanpreet Kaur, Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma and Harleen Deol on stage and engaged them in an impromptu quiz that at one point even made them shake a leg.TOISA Ambassadors Tapsee Pannu and Sports Minister Girish Chandra Yadav felicitated the other awardees.The galaxy of sports veterans present during the ceremony included Sandeep Patil, Madan Lal, Jasbir Singh, Virendra Singh, Yogeshwar Dutt and Mirabai Chanu.
