NEW DELHI: The fourth edition of the Times of India Sports Awards (TOISA), powered by BHIM-UPI, is India's first of its kind and largest multi-discipline people's choice sports awards. TOISA is a platform created by the Times Group to recognise and reward Indian sporting talent and achievements on a global scale and will be held soon to honour the lionhearts who have given their blood, sweat and tears to make the country proud.
Ahead of the TOISA to be held on March 5, here's a recap of the how these teams fared in the year 2019.
Indian Men's Cricket TeamThe Indian men's cricket team had an astonishing 2019 season.
Virat Kohli became the first Indian skipper to guide his team to a Test series win against Australia in Australia. Kohli led India to a 2-1 series win in the four-match series. India consolidated their position at the top of the International Cricket Council's World Test Championship table, clinching the maximum points with a 3-0 whitewash of South Africa and 2-0 clean sweep of Bangladesh at home. India have built on their early success of a 2-0 win in the West Indies, where once again they claimed the maximum points on offer as per the maiden
ICC World Test Championship
.
Indian Men's Hockey TeamYear 2019 began with another defeat in a title match, when India lost to South Korea in the
Sultan Azlan Shah Cup final on penalties. The Asian Games debacle meant India had to go through the FIH Olympic Qualifiers. For that, the team first won the FIH Series Finals at home and then defeated Russia 11-3 on aggregate in the two-match Olympic qualifying event in Bhubaneswar to book a Tokyo 2020 ticket. In a first, two Indian male players bagged FIH awards with skipper Manpreet Singh becoming FIH Player of the Year 2019 while mid-fielder Vivek Sagar Prasad was named FIH Men's Rising Star of the Year 2019.
Indian Men's U-19 Cricket Team
In 2019, the Indian colts retained their U-19 Asia Cup title with a thrilling five-run win over Bangladesh in a low-scoring final in Colombo. This was India's seventh triumph in the continental tournament for junior cricketers. Defending a paltry total of 106, India dismissed Bangladesh for 101 in 33 overs, courtesy 18-year-old left-arm spinner Atharva Ankolekar, who had magical figures of 5 for 28 from 8 overs. Ankolekar, who picked up the most number of wickets (12) in the tourney, deservedly won the player of the match award for taking five wickets, while opener Arjun Azad bagged the player of the series honour for scoring 202 runs in four games.
Indian Men's Blind Cricket TeamAfter winning the
2018 Blind Cricket World Cup
, India whitewashed Jamaica in their own den in both the ODI and T20 series in 2019. The touring Indian team first won the ODI series 3-0 and then swept the T20 series 2-0 to keep a clean slate. This was the first time India toured Jamaica for a limited overs series. Blind cricket has been played in India for more than two decades. The first World Cup was held in 1998 in Delhi. Players are categorized as B1 (totally blind), B2 (partially blind) and B3 (partially sighted), depending on their degree of vision.
Indian Women's Hockey TeamThe year 2019 was significant in that the Indian women's hockey team qualified for its second consecutive Olympics for the first time in history and only the third time overall. Before defeating the USA in the two-match Olympic qualifying event at home 6-5 on aggregate to confirm a Tokyo berth, the captain Rani Rampal's team had won the FIH Series Finals earlier in the year in Hiroshima to reach the qualifiers. Promising striker of the Indian women's team Lalremsiami was also named FIH Women's Rising Star of the Year 2019.
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