Kidambi Srikanth wins Sports Illustrated 2017 Player of the Year

Kidambi Srikanth wins Sports Illustrated 2017 Player of the Year

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The 2018 Commonwealth Games gold-medal winning shuttler Kidambi Srikanth, was adjudged as the Sportsperson of the Year for 2017 by the Sports Illustrated India magazine on Thursday. The Women’s Cricket Team was felicitated with Team of the Year award for their successful 2017 World Cup campaign.

The year 2017 was a dream year for Kidambi Srikanth as he became the first male Indian badminton player to rise to the No. 1 in badminton rankings along with 4 Superseries titles in Indonesia, Australia, Denmark and France. The Sports Illustrated India awards were held at the Roseate House, Aerocity, New Delhi on Thursday, and Srikanth was declared the Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year for 2017. The 2018 Commonwealth silver medalist was elated with the award and termed it as a reminder to bring more glory to the nation.

“I am extremely grateful to the magazine for choosing me as the Sportsperson Of The Year 2018. It is an honour for me to have received the award in a year where my fellow athletes from different sports have also excelled. This is not just an Award, but it also serves as a reminder for me to work even harder next year and bring more glory to the nation,” he said.

Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Mr. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, also attended the event and congratulated all the award winners at the event.

“I am very proud to be the Sports Minister of a nation where sports is really growing and we are demonstrating what a great sporting nation we can be. I would also like to congratulate all the award winners and athletes present here for making the nation proud and hope that they can bring more laurels to the nation,” he said.

Among other awards, the Indian women’s cricket team was decorated as the 2017 Team of the year for their World Cup campaign while national football team manager Stephen Constantine won the Coach of the Year while Editor’s Choice for Excellence (Team) was given to Aizawl FC.

Here are the award categories in which the athletes were felicitated:

Editor’s Choice for Excellence (Male): Jitu Rai

Young Sportsperson of the Year: Manav Vikas Thakkar

Community Development in Sport: Sailen Tudu

Comeback of the Year: Sushil Kumar

Gamechanger of the Year: Shubhankar Sharma

Outstanding Contribution to Sport: Leander Paes

Lifetime Achievement Award: Dhanraj Pillay

Special Award Living Legend: Balbir Singh Sr.

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