India’s biggest medal hope wrestler Bajrang Punia and young shooter Elavenil Valarivan won the Sportsperson of the Year awards in their respective categories at the FICCI India Sports Awards 2020 at the Tokyo Olympics. The FICCI India Sports Awards were held virtually on Tuesday evening. Bajrang and Valarivan had impressive performances in 2019-20. Bajrang, who is present in the US for the preparation of the Olympics, expressed happiness over the award and said that he will continue to win the honor and medal for the country.
Young female shooter Valarivan thanked his family, mentor Gagan Narang and coach Neha Chauhan for the award. He also thanked the National Rifle Association of India. Madhya Pradesh and Assam received the award for the best state for encouraging sports, while the Paralympic Committee of India and the Wrestling Federation of India received the award for the Best National Sports Federation. Anu Rani received the Breakthrough Sportsperson of the Year award. Manjusha Kanwar was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award. Sunder Singh Gurjar and Simran Sharma were awarded Para Athlete of the Year. Radhakrishnan Nair received the Coach of the Year award.