Shooter Elavenil Valarivan and wrestler Bajrang Punia bagged the sports persons of the year award at the FICCI India awards ceremony, held virtually on Tuesday evening.
“I thank my family first for always standing by me. My mentor Gagan Narang and my coach Neha Chauhan for always believing in me,” said Elavenil, who had finished 2019 as No. 1 in the world in women’s rifle shooting, following the gold in the Rio World Cup and the gold in the World Cup Finals.
“Such recognition motivates me to keep doing well. It gives me joy,” said Bajrang, from his training base.
“It is a great initiative by FICCI, especially during such difficult times of a pandemic. I am sure that such awards and initiatives will motivate athletes,” said the chief guest, the Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Hemant Soren.
Former India cricket captain and coach, Anil Kumble received the ‘best company promoting sports’ award on behalf of his enterprise, Tenvic Sports.
The awardees:
State promoting sports: Madhya Pradesh and Assam.
Organisation promoting sports through CSR: Tata Steel.
Company promoting sports, public sector: Indian Air Force.
Company promoting sports, private sector: Tenvic Sports.
National Sports Federation: Paralympic Committee of India and Wrestling Federation of India.
Sports Persons of the year: Elavenil Valarivan and Bajrang Punia.
Breakthrough sports person: Annu Rani.
NGO promoting sports: Magic Bus India Foundation and Pullela Gopi Chand Badminton Foundation.
Lifetime achievement: Manjusha Kanwar.
Para athlete of the year: Sundar Singh Gurjar, Simran Sharma.
Sports journalist: Mona Parthasarathi.
Coach: Radhakrishnan Nair.
Professional services company: Collage Design Pvt. Ltd.
Sports set-up: SportzGrid Pvt. Ltd.
Educational Institute, University: Manav Rachna International Institute of Research and Studies.
Educational Institute, School: The Sports School.
