TOISA 2018 Recap: When Kidambi Srikanth led the list of award winners

NEW DELHI: With the next edition of Times of India Sports Awards (TOISA) around the corner, here's a recap of the last event held in February 2018. The upcoming edition will see a host of India's top performers between April 2018 and October 2019 make it to the shortlist of nominees.
Looking back at the glittering awards ceremony last year, it was ace shuttler Kidambi Srikanth who was named the 'Sportsperson of the Year' for a record-setting 2017 on the badminton courts across the world.He also bagged the Jury's Choice Award for male 'Badminton Player of the Year'. In the female category, PV Sindhu won the award. Their mentor and national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand received the 'Mentor of the Year' award.
Among the who's who of the sports world attending the ceremony was tennis legend Stefan Edberg, present as the mentor.
Coincidentally, India's tennis icon Vijay Amritraj was the recipient of the TOISA Lifetime Achievement Award as Edberg applauded his achievement.
In the list of first-time athletes winning the award were Amyjot Singh Gill for 'Basketball Player of the Year', distance-runner G Lakshmanan for 'Athlete of the Year', Gaurav Bidhuri as 'Boxer of the Year' and Gurpeet Singh Sandhu who received the 'Footballer of the Year' award.
Teenage pistol sensation Anish Bhanwala (then 15) was adjudged Emerging Player of the Year.
The 'Team of the Year' award went to the Indian men's hockey team for winning the 2017 Asia Cup and bronze medals at the Hockey World League Final in Bhubaneshwar and the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia.
A new award, titled 'Inspiration of the Year', was given to the Indian women's cricket team which captivated the country's sports fans by reaching the final of the 2017 ICC Women's World Cup.
Here is the complete list of award winners:
Kidambi Srikanth
Indian men's hockey team
Anil Kumble
Pullela Gopichand
Indian women's cricket team
Anish Bhanwala
Vijay Amritraj
Madhya Pradesh
Varun Bhati
Abhishek Verma
G Lakshmanan
Kidambi Srikanth & PV Sindhu
Amjyot Singh Gill
Pankaj Advani
Gaurav Bidhuri
Harika Dronavalli
Jasprit Bumrah & Harmanpreet Kaur
Gurpreet Singh Sandhu
Ajeetesh Sandhu
Harmanpreet Singh & Savita Punia
Pardeep Narwal
Ankur Mittal & Heena Sidhu
Saurav Ghosal
Sathiyan Gnansekaran
Rohan Bopanna
Saikhom Mirabai Chanu
Bajrang Punia