Sportstar Aces, Day 4: Mary Kom, Bindra, Sindhu, Srikanth honoured

Bindra is Inspirational Giant of Indian Sport; Srikanth and Sindhu bag Racquet Sports awards; Gopi Chand named Coach of the Decade.

M.C. Mary Kom, the six-time boxing world champion, won the Sportstar of the Decade award at the 2021 Sportstar Aces – Giants of the Decade edition on Sunday.

“I am so happy and I wish to achieve more in the upcoming tournaments. This is a big, big motivation for me,” said Mary Kom. “This award is huge. I have been fighting for so long, almost 20 years. Being a woman, a girl, a mother — is not an easy task. Fight like a woman, that is my biggest message to all.”

Abhinav Bindra, the only Indian to win an individual Olympic gold medal, was conferred the Inspirational Giant of Indian Sport honour. “I’m extremely humbled to receive this award. My gratitude to the jury, to Sportstar and the entire Hindu Group for deeming me worthy of an honour such as this,” Bindra said.

Thank you @sportstarweb and the @the_hindu for your immense contribution to Indian sport. Would specially like to convey my sincerest compliments to Kamesh Srinivasan whose contribution to my sport has been nothing but inspirational as well . https://t.co/pHNoJdvCoP

— Abhinav A. Bindra OLY (@Abhinav_Bindra) April 4, 2021

Former World No. 1 K. Srikanth and reigning badminton World champion P.V. Sindhu bagged the Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Decade (Racquet Sports) titles.

“I used to read the [ Sportstar ] magazine [in 2005-06] because it used to cover a lot of sports news,” said Srikanth. “I always dreamt of being there one day and today, to receive this award, from Sportstar is a very big achievement. I’m really happy and honoured to receive it.”

Moments of the Decade

Sindhu’s 2019 World Championship victory and Viswanathan Anand’s 2017 World Rapid chess championship win were adjudged Moments of the Decade.

Honoured to have won the Sportstar Aces Sportsman of the Decade award. A big thank you to @sportstarweb for awarding me and for everyone's constant support and love ♥ pic.twitter.com/tzsDJbpLbO

— Kidambi Srikanth (@srikidambi) April 4, 2021

“I must say that Sportstar has been very, very encouraging and supportive of not only me but all athletes. The World Championship win in 2019 was one of the biggest moments of my career... it was my first World Championship gold medal,” Sindhu said.

Recalling his World Rapid triumph in 2017, Anand said, “I am very proud to have won the Moment of the Decade award. I remember that day as if it were yesterday. I remember coming out, and maybe for the second time in my career, actually pumping fist. It was a very special moment for me because it had not been a great month till that point.”

Phenomenal

National badminton coach P. Gopi Chand, who bagged the Coach of the Decade Trophy, said: “I remember receiving this award in 2001 as a Sportsperson of the Year, and 20 years later to get this award from Sportstar is really phenomenal.”

The fourth list of Sportstar Aces Awards winners 

1. Sportsman of the Decade (Racquet Sports) - Kidambi Srikanth 

2. Sportswoman of the Decade (Racquet Sports) - PV Sindhu 

3. Coach of the Decade - P. Gopichand 

4. Moment of the Decade – P. V. Sindhu’s World Championship win in 2019 and Viswanathan Anand’s 2017 World Rapid triumph 

5. Inspirational Giant of Indian Sport- Abhinav Bindra 

6. Sportstar of the Decade – M. C. Mary Kom