Milkha, Mandhana, Indian cricket team win Indian Sports Honours

Legendary track and field sprinter Milkha Singh and India’s star batswoman Smriti Mandhana were among the winners during the second edition of the Indian Sports Honours (ISH) held on October 5 in Mumbai.

The ISH is an initiative by Sanjiv Goenka, Chairman, RP-SG Group and India cricket team captain Virat Kohli.

A total of seventeen honours were presented during the ceremony, comprising eleven Jury Honours, including one Lifetime Achievement Honour, and six popular choice honours, a media release issued in Mumbai on Friday (October 11) said.

Best known as the ‘Flying Sikh’ and most remembered for finishing fourth in the 400m final in the 1960 Rome Olympic Games, Milkha Singh was bestowed with the lifetime achievement award at the age of 92.

While the 23-year-old Smriti Mandhana, who was recently ruled out of the ongoing South Africa tour of India ODI series due to a toe fracture, was awarded with sportswoman of the year for the team category.

The cricketer has so far played 50 ODIs and 62 T20Is, recording scores of 1,951 and 1,344 respectively.

Among other prominent winners were the Indian national men’s cricket team, led by captain Virat Kohli, who bagged the honour of the ‘Team of the Year’.

The nominees for the Honours were shortlisted by over 200 journalists from the Sports Journalist Federation of India (SJFI). The Jury Honours were then decided by the ISH jury, which included among others Sanjiv Goenka, Pulella Gopichand, Mahesh Bhupathi, Sardar Singh, Abhinav Bindra, PT Usha and Anjali Bhagwat.

The winners of the Popular Choice Honours were selected by the fans themselves and the winners of each category were decided based on the highest number of votes in each category.

Winners:

(With inputs from agencies)