Wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik, who just lately staged a protest towards WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and accused him of sexual exploitation and intimidation, have been amongst 5 athletes nominated on Monday for the BBC Indian Sportswoman Of The 12 months award. Others who made the reduce have been Tokyo Olympics silver medallist weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, ace shuttler PV Sindhu and boxer Nikhat Zareen. The athletes have been short-listed after a panel of jury, consisting of sports activities journalists and writers, voted for his or her most popular gamers, based mostly on their achievements.

The winner can be chosen by a public vote that started on Monday and can proceed until February 20 midnight. The winner can be introduced on March 5.

Rupa Jha, the Head of India BBC Information, introduced that they’ve launched a brand new award class — BBC Indian para-sportswoman of the 12 months.

Ekta Bhyan, the 2018 Asian para Video games gold medallist, welcomed the transfer and emphasised on the necessity to make the stadiums extra accessible to the bodily challenged athletes.

“The stadiums and swimming swimming pools must be accessible simply for the disabled athletes. Psychological obstacles should be damaged, about 60 to 70 p.c of disabled inhabitants remains to be restricted to houses. Extra consciousness and work is required at grassroots stage,” Bhyan, flanked by London Olympics bronze-winning boxer Vijender Singh, stated.

“Sports activities must be part of schooling. Why ought to disabled athletes begin their careers on the age of 15 or 16, sport must be accessible to them a lot earlier and there must be a complete and non-discriminatory coverage for disabled,” she added.

Vijender stated the ladies athletes are two steps forward of their male counterparts and deserve respect greater than the awards.

He lamented that nationwide boxing federation doesn’t keep up a correspondence with boxers like him.

“I find out about present standing of boxing as a lot you (media individuals) know. We aren’t referred to as for even Nationals or different occasions. I used to be requested about Indian boxing by Salman Khan and Rahul Gandhi and instructed them I do not know as a result of we’re not concerned,” he stated.

He suggested that each village in India ought to have its personal multi-sport stadium to encourage children.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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