LUCKNOW: The biggest names in Indian sports will once again gather under one roof as the much-anticipated Times of India Sports Awards (TOISA) returns to Lucknow for the third time in a row on Saturday, celebrating the impressive journeys and achievements of the country’s best athletes. Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath will grace the occasion as the chief guest and present trophies to honor the achievers and rising stars who have made the nation proud in the past year. The event will be attended by sporting legends like PT Osha, Leander Pace, Mithali Raj, Madan Lal, Sandeep Patil and Sardar Singh and other top players, 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 recognize athletes in more than 45 categories during the evaluation period from January 1 to December 31, 2025. The wide range of categories ensures that excellence in mainstream as well as emerging sports fields is recognised. Having started in 2015, TOISA is completing a decade, and a special section will honor the best players of the past 10 years. Also there will be a special segment on the Player of the Year from UP. For the past decade, para-players have showcased their skills on the fields and courts, bringing the nation to prominence. To appreciate their talents, TOISA has 13 categories dedicated to para sports. A distinguished jury comprising eminent Indian sports personalities — Abhinav Bindra, the country’s first individual Olympic gold medallist; tennis legend and Olympic medalist Lander Pace; two-time Olympic medalist PR Srijesh; Devendra Jhajharia, two-time Paralympic gold medalist; Mithali Raj, one of the biggest 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 pick the winners. The jury faces a tough task in choosing from a star-studded list of nominees, as the past year witnessed several historic achievements. Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra continued his impressive run at the world level with a stellar performance at the Diamond League, while shooter Samrat Rana won 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 competed in the final of the All England Championship. The young shuttler is on his way to making a name for himself among the sport’s elite. Indian cricket also enjoyed a historic year. The Indian women’s national cricket team won their first ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup title on home soil, while the Indian men’s team captured both the ICC Champions Trophy and the Asia Cup. Smriti Mandhana’s World Cup winning feat and her own performance this year was exceptional. He was instrumental in India’s historic win, scoring a total of 434 runs, the most by any player. The Indian vice-captain scored a brilliant innings of 109 against New Zealand and 80 against Australia, as well as a crucial 45 in the final against South Africa. Another performance came from Deepti Sharma. The Agra girl’s all-round performance also earned her the player of the tournament award. In another remarkable feat, India’s women’s blind cricket team became the first-time champions of the Women’s Blind Cricket T20 World Cup. Apart from cricket, the Indian men’s hockey team won the Asia Cup, and qualified for the 2026 FIH World Cup. Indian para-athletes also made a grand comeback by performing brilliantly at the World Para-Athletics Championships. Talented players like Vibhu Suryavanshi in cricket, Divya Deshmukh in chess and Tanvi Sharma in badminton emerged as stars of the future. Through these awards, TOISA continues its mission to celebrate India’s sports heroes, whose courage, dedication and excellence inspire India.
TOISA nomination
Here are the nominees shortlisted for various categories by the illustrious TOISA jury, including icons like Abhinav Bindra, Mithali Raj and Leander Pace. Badminton (Men) Lakshi Sen, Ayush Shetty, Kiran George, Chirag Shetty, Satok Sairaj Rankireddy Badminton (Women) Tanvi Sharma, Unanti Hooda, Teresa Jolly, Gayatri Gopichand Cricket (Men) Shibman Gul, Abhishek Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, KL Rahul, Varun Chakraborty, Kuldeep Yadav Cricket (Women) Smriti Mandhana, Pratika Rawal, Jemima Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Shafali Verma Athletics (Men) Neeraj Chopra, Animesh Kajoor, Gulvir Singh, Sachin Yadav Athletics (Women) Parul Chaudhary, Rupal Chaudhary, Jyothi Yaraji, Pooja Singh horse rider Ashish Lemme, Shruti Vora, Divyakarti Singh Hockey (Men) Abhishek Nain, Harmanpreet Singh, Jograj Singh, Amit Rohidas Hockey (Women) Adita Duhan, Navneet Kaur, Mumtaz Khan, Ratuja Pisal Shooting (Male) Samrat Rana, Ravinder Singh, Ishwari Pratap Singh Tomar, Anish, Varun Tomar, Rudrankash Patil shooting (female) Saruchi Inder Singh, Simran Preet Kaur, Esha Singh, Elavinal Valarivan, Saif Kaur Samra, Manu Bhakar Chess (Men) R Praganandha, Arvind Chithambaram, P Anian, Nihal Sarin, Arjun Erigisi Chess (Women) Divya Deshmukh, Koneru Hampi, R Vaishali, Nandhidha PV Archery (Men) Dheeraj Bomadeura, Abhishek Verma, Atanu Das, Prathamesh Phoge, Rishabh Yadav Archery (Women) Ankita Bhakta, Jyoti Srikha, Deepika Kumari, Prathika Pradeep Billiards/Snooker Pankaj Advani, Aditya Mehta, Brijesh Damani. Weightlifting (Male) Rishi Kanta Singh, Muthupandi Raja, Dilbagh Singh, Lopreet Singh Weightlifting (Female) Meera Bai Chanu, Mahek Sharma, Bandyarani Devi Wrestling (Men) Sunil Kumar, Nitish, Aman Sehrawat, Sujit Kalkal Wrestling (Women’s) Antam Pinghal, Manisha, Nisha Dahiya Squash (Men) Abhay Singh, Saurav Ghosal, Valwan Senthal Kumar, Mahesh Mangonkar Squash (Women’s) Anahit Singh, Joshna Chinappa, Deepika Pallikal Karthik, Tanvi Khanna Table Tennis (Men) Manav Thakur, Sathyan Ganasekaran, Harmeet Desai, Piyas Jain Table Tennis (Women) Manika Batra, Srija Akula, Daya Chitale, Ihika Mukherjee Tennis (Men) Rohan Bopanna, Yuki Bhambri, Sumit Nagal Tennis (Women’s) Ankita Raina, Vaishnavi Udkar, Sahaja Yamalapalli Football (Men) Subhashish Bose, Sunil Chhetri, Vishal Keith, Brison Fernandes, Gurpreet Singh Sindhu Football (Women) Soumya Guguloth, Grace Dangmi, Eling Bam Panthoi Chanu, Manisha Kalyan, Piri Axa Kabaddi Sanju Devi, Pawan Sehrawat, Ritu Negi, Arjun Deshwaal Boxing (Men) Sachin Sivach, Hitesh Galia, Pawan Bartwal, Ankash Pinghal Boxing (Women) Meenakshi Hooda, Jasmine Limboria, Nikhat Zarin, Pooja Rani Shipping Vishnu Saravanan, Zahan Hemrajani, Abhimanyu Panwar, Ghasiya A Coach of the Year Amul Majumdar (Cricket), Suresh Singh (Shooting), Ashok Kumar Rana (Shooting) Para Archery (Men) Harvinder Singh, Vivek Chikara, Rakesh Kumar, Shyam Sundar Swamy Para Archery (Women) Sheetal Devi, Payal Nag, Jyoti Balyan Para Athletics (Men) Sumit Intel, Shailesh Kumar, Sandeep Kumar, Nishad Kumar Para Athletics (Women) Simran Sharma, Preethi Paul, Ekta Bhayan, Deepti Jeonji Para Badminton (Men) Pramod Bhagat, Skantakadam, Krishna Nagar Para Badminton (Women) Mandeep Kaur, Manasi Joshi, Nithya Sri Para Chess By Vaibhav Gautham, Samarth Jay Rao, Venkata Krishna Karthik Para judo Kapil Parmar, Ayodhya Sharma, Rahul Rajura, Kokila Parachuting (Men) Bhat Ameer Ahmed, Nihal Singh, Sandeep Kumar, Radranesh Khandelwal Parachuting (Women) Mona Aggarwal, Avni Lekhra, Ruby Kumari Emerging players Tanvi Sharma (Badminton), Divya Deshmukh (Chess), Shri Charani (Cricket), Vibhu Suryavanshi (Cricket) Para Sports Person of the Year Sheetal Devi (Para Archery), Praveen Kumar (Para Athletics – High Jump), Prithi Paul (Para Athletics – Sprint), Sumit Intel (Para Athletics – Javelin) Para Coach of the Year Dr. Satyapal Singh (Para Athletics), Subhash Rana (Para Shooting), Gaurav Khanna (Para Badminton), Scindia Bharti (Para Taekwondo) Team of the Year India Women’s Cricket Team, India Men’s Cricket Team, India Men’s Hockey Team, India Men’s and 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
