2nd Edition of the Coveted Sahara India Sports Awards announced

One-of-its-kind multi disciplines Sports Award function will be held on 30th October 2010 in Mumbai
Sports Journalist Federation of India (SJFI) nominated the Sporting talent of the year for the Awards while 14 sporting legends comprising of the jury led by Sunil Gavaskar will select awardees.

Lucknow, October 23, 2010: Sahara India Pariwar, a major business conglomerate and the prime promoter & patron of sports in India, after the resounding success last year announces ‘SAHARA INDIA SPORTS AWARDS’ for 2010. The comprehensive Awards under different categories will felicitate the achievement and efforts of Indian sportspersons in their respective fields and will also provide recognition to the upcoming young talents. The Awards will also recognize the contribution of Coaches, sports officials and administrators. A total of 16 awards, under 15 different categories, will be presented in a gala awards ceremony on 30th October 2010.

AWARD CATEGORIES

• Best Young Achiever (Male)
• Best Young Achiever (Female)
• Memorable moment of the year
• Team of the Year
• Sportsman of the Year
• Sportswoman of the Year
• Cricketer of the Year (Male)
• Cricketer of the Year (Female)
• Outstanding Performance of the Year
• Breakthrough Performance of the Year
• Coach of the year
• Outstanding Performance at CWG (Male)
• Outstanding Performance at CWG (Female)
• Unsung Hero (2)
• Legendary Honor

“This year we are taking the Sahara India Sports Awards to new heights. While there will be more categories for awards this year, the entertainment quotient will also be at its peak with the presence of stars of sports, business & entertainment and performances by Shah Rukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor, many top actor, and actresses along with various sportspersons of India” informed Mr. Abhijit Sarkar, Director - Communications, Sahara India Pariwar. He further said “The awards are ingrained in Sahara’s belief of transcending the thought of promoting and recognizing sports and sportsmen in proportion to the popularity of the game, towards developing a single, comprehensive platform which can bring all sports and sportsmen together and honour stars and promising talent. Led by our deep rooted commitment towards promoting sports and encouraging the youngsters towards sports, we are prepared to make these Awards a most sought after recognition of Indian Sportspersons”.
Jury for the Sahara Indian Sports Award

1. Mr. Sunil Gavaskar, (Cricket), Chairman of the Jury
2. Dhanraj Pillai (Hockey)
3. Pullela Gopichand (Badminton)
4. Michael Ferreira (Billiards)
5. Sandeep Patil (Cricket)
6. Ashwini Nachappa (Athletics)
7. Kamlesh Mehta (Table Tennis)
8. I.M. Vijayan (Football)
9. Anjali Bhagwat (Shooting)
10. Nandan Bal (Tennis)
11. Praveen Thipsay (Chess)
12. Vikramjit Singh (Golf)
13. Kartar Singh (Wrestling)
14. Dingko Singh (Boxing)

Sahara India Pariwar has developed the Awards, with an intention to bring together all sports, including those which are very popular and also those which are not so popular, together on a common platform to recognize and honour the achievements of Indian sportspersons who have taken the pride of the nation to the highest level and kept the tricolor flying high. These awards will also provide a forum for encouragement to young sporting talents and motivate them to bring laurels to the nation and sports.
The awardees of this coveted trophy are selected through an extensive 2 tier selection process, under which at first level, the 400 members of Sports Journalist Federation of India (SJFI) from across the nation, nominated sportspersons from different sections of sports in different categories.
From the short listed names drawn by through the SJFI nominations, the final awardees under respective will be selected by a 14 person sports jury constituting of living legends from different sports discipline like Cricket, Billiards, Tennis, Golf, Squash, Hockey, Athletics, Boxing, Badminton, Football, Chess, Table Tennis etc. The jury panel will be led by cricketing legend Mr. Sunil Gavaskar as the Chairman of the jury. The entire selection process will be audited and monitored by Ernst & Young.
Mr. Sunil Gavaskar, The cricket legend and Chairman of the awards jury, on launch of the Sahara Indian Sports award said, “Sahara Indian Sports Award is a forum that gets multidisciplinary sportspersons under one roof. It’s a forum to salute the spirit of sportsmanship and cheer fellow sportsmen. It is a great initiative by Sahara India to come up with ‘Sahara Indian Sports Award’ to honour the finest sportsmen & sportswomen of our country.”