Mumbai:
The 'Sahara India Sports Awards' on Friday declared the list of nominations for this year's awards to be presented here on Saturday.
While Vijender Singh (Boxing), Viswanathan Anand (Chess), Sushil Kumar (Wrestling), Gagan Narang (Shooting) and Arjun Atwal (Golf) were shortlisted in the 'Sports man of the Year' category, Mary Kom (Boxing), Saina Nehwal (Badminton), Tejaswini Sawant (Shooting) will be fighting for the 'Sports woman of the Year' honour.
In the young achievers (male) category, the battle will be amongst Sushil Kumar Prannoy (Badminton), Virdhawal Khade (Swimming), Ravi Dixit (Squash), S P Sethuraman (Chess), Asher Noria (Shooting), Vikas Krishan (Boxing). In female's section, it would be one out of the three -- Dipika Pallikal (Squash), Gayathri Govindaraj (Athletics), Soumya Swaminathan (Chess) who would get the trophy.
A total of 16 awards, under 15 different categories will be given to the Indian sportspersons, which would also include award to recognise the upcoming young talents, besides acknowledging the contribution of coaches, sports officials and administrators.
The awardees of this trophy are selected through an extensive 2-tier selection process.
The nominees are short listed by 400 members of Sports Journalist Federation of India (SJFI) from across the nation through secret ballots. The final awardees will be selected by the eminent jury of 14 sporting legends led by former Sunil Gavaskar and will be felicitated in the grand award Ceremony.
In keeping with the very dynamic nature of sport and the performances of Indian sportspersons, a few special awards have also been introduced this year to recognise the outstanding performances by the Indians at the recently concluded Commonwealth Games.
Under the Special Awards, the categories include Outstanding Performance at Commonwealth Games (Male) and Outstanding Performance at Commonwealth Games (Female), apart from the 'Legend Honour' and the 'Unsung Hero' awards.
The Nominations of Sahara India Sports Awards 2010 are:
Best Young Achievers (Male): Sushil Kumar Prannoy (Badminton), Virdhawal Khade (Swimming), Ravi Dixit (Squash), S. P. Sethuraman (Chess), Asher Noria (Shooting), Vikas Krishan (Boxing).
Best young Achiever (Female): Dipika Pallikal (Squash), Gayathri Govindaraj (Athletics), Soumya Swaminathan (Chess).
Team of the Year: India Cricket Team, Indian Davis Cup Team (Tennis), Indian Women's Hockey Team, India 'A' Chess Team (Men).
Sports woman of the Year: Mary Kom (Boxing), Saina Nehwal (Badminton), Tejaswini Sawant (Shooting).
Sports man of the Year: Vijender Singh (Boxing), Vishwanathan Anand (Chess), Sushil Kumar (Wrestling), Gagan Narang (Shooting), Arjun Atwal (Golf).
Cricketer of the Year (Male): Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina.
Cricketer of the year (Female): Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Gouhar Sultana.
Outstanding Performance of the year: Suranjoy Singh (Boxing), Achanta Sharath Kamal (Table Tennis), Pankaj Advani (Billiards and Snooker), Om Prakash Singh (Shot Putt), Tintu Luka (Athletics), Chinnaswami Muniyappa (Golf).
Coach of the Year: P T Usha (Athletics), P Gopichand (Badminton), Yashvir Singh (Wrestling), Anoop Kumar (Boxing).
Memorable Moment of the year: M C Mary Kom (winning the Fifth world boxing title at Bridgetown, Barbados), Saina Nehwal (winning 3 titles in 3 weeks at the India Grand Prix, the Singapore Open and the Indonesian Open), Viswanathan Anand (successfully defended his title at the World Chess Championship that is being held since 2001), Tejaswini Sawant (winning the rifle prone shooting event at the world championship in Munich).