Saina, Mithali bag top sports awards

Hyderabad
Nov. 10: Hyderabad’s Saina Nehwal and Mithali Raj and India’s national badminton chief coach Pullela Gopichand won the honours awards at the first Sahara Indian Sports Award ceremony, held at a hotel in Mumbai on Monday night.
Saina, who was honoured with the Teacher’s Achievement Awards for 2009 in the sports category on Sunday night, added another trophy to her cabinet after she was given an accolade for the best young achiever of the year (female) for 2008-09.
Former women’s cricket captain Mithali Raj was recognised as the cricketer of the year (female). Gautam Gambhir meanwhile bagged the cricketer of the year trophy (male).
Dronacharya and Arjuna Awardee, Pullela Gopichand, was honoured for being the best coach of the year. India’s first All-England Open champion, Prakash Padukone was bestowed with the legend honour.
Boxer Mary Kom was adjudged the sportswoman (non-cricket) of the year while shooter Abhinav Bindra won the award in the male category. Abhinav Bindra also gave India its most memorable moment as he won a gold medal at the Beijing Olympics.
The best young achiever (male) award went to tennis ace Yuki Bhambri, who won the junior title at the Australian Open in January.
Meanwhile, Vijender Singh (boxing), Sushil Kumar (wrestling), Gaganjeet Bhullar (golf) and Jayanta Talukdar (archery) were awarded for outstanding performance in their respective categories.
Sylvanus Dung Dung was recognised with an award for unsung heroes.
The Indian Cricket Team was given the team of the year award.
Other distinguished sportspersons like Sunil Gavaskar, Dhanraj Pillay, Anju Bobby George, Ashwini Nachappa, Dilip Vengasarkar, I.M. Vijayan, Kamlesh Mehta, Mehrwan Daruwalla, Michael Ferreira, Nandan Bal, Praveeen Thipsay and Vikramjit Singh graced the ocassion.