Vinesh, Sindhu, Mary Kom among nominees for BBC Sportswoman of the year award
New Delhi: Star wrestler Vinesh Phogat, badminton queen PV Sindhu and boxing great MC Mary Kom will compete for the inaugural BBC Indian sportswoman of the year award after being nominated for the honour with two other athletes.
Sprinter Dutee Chand and para-badminton player Manasi Joshi are the other nominees for the award, the winner of which will be announced on March 8.
The winner will be decided on the basis of public voting, which will be open till February 18 on six BBC vernacular websites.
Vinesh had won a bronze at the 2019 World Championship in Nur Sultan to secure a quota for the Tokyo Olympics while Sindhu became the first Indian shuttler to become world champion last year.
Manasi became a world champion after winning gold at the para world championship while Mary Kom is the only Indian boxer to win eight world medals, including six gold.
Dutee had won a 100m silver at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games.
Rupa Jha, the Head of BBC Indian languages, informed that the nominees were picked up by a panel of 40 eminent sports journalists.
"We had asked our panel members to pick their candidates. The five athletes who got the maximum number of votes, were eventually selected as the final nominees," Rupa said while addressing a press conference.
"We will cover their journeys, the societal attitude towards them and their lives beyond sport. A research is being conducted on this, simultaneously," she added.
Upcoming wrestler Sonam Malik, the two time world cadet champion, was asked to open the voting.
Sonam had recently defeated Rio Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik to secure her place in the senior Indian women team for the Asian Championship.
